In their new graphic nonfiction book Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, authors Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith turn the heated public debate over immigration on its head by proposing a radical and controversial solution: open borders. Caplan argues that opening all borders would practically eliminate absolute poverty worldwide and usher in a booming worldwide economy―greatly benefiting all of humanity, including Americans. With a clear and conversational tone, exhaustive research, and vibrant illustrations by Zach Weinersmith of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal fame, Open Borders makes the case for unrestricted immigration in a new format sure to spark lively debate. Caplan and Weinersmith will be joined by Tim Kane, the JP Conte Fellow in Immigration Studies at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, who is a supporter of liberal immigration laws but a critic of open borders. Please join us for a timely and lively discussion.

Repugnant Laws provides a political history of how the Supreme Court has exercised the power of judicial review over federal legislation from the adoption of the Constitution to the present. The book draws on a first-of-its-kind comprehensive inventory of every case in which the court has substantively reviewed the constitutionality of a provision of federal law and either upheld the application of that statute or refused to apply it due to constitutional limits on congressional authority. The book makes use of the publicly available Judicial Review of Congress Database to reexamine how aggressively the court has enforced limits on congressional power over time. It also reevaluates the political relationship between the court and the elected branches of the federal government and revises our understanding of the history of American constitutional law. As battles over the future of the Supreme Court heat up, join us for a discussion of the promise and limits of judicial power and the ways in which the court reflects the politics of its time.

In The Need for Humility in Policymaking: Lessons from Regulatory Policy, economists Stefanie Haeffele and Anne Hobson argue that thoughtful policy analysis and policymaking require an acknowledgment of the challenges that politicians and regulators face when intervening in a complex and changing society. The book seeks to cultivate an appreciation for the complexity of human decision making and the incentives that drive human behavior. In the edited volume, 12 scholars provide case studies examining the effects of regulations in diverse policy areas, including financial markets, computer and internet governance, and healthcare innovation and delivery. Each chapter explores regulatory hubris and subsequent unintended consequences of policy interventions. Please join the book’s editors for a conversation on the importance of humility in designing regulations and launching new policy initiatives.