Cato Quarterly: Events, Publications, and Studies

Jimmy Lai’s Struggle for Freedom

In November, Cato hosted a film screening of the Acton Institute’s documentary, The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom. Jimmy Lai was the recipient of the 2023 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty.

Insights on the FDIC’s Agenda

Travis Hill, left, vice chairman at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), discusses recent regulatory actions with Norbert Michel, vice president and director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, six months after the high‐​profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Fortifying the Foundations of Free Speech

The Cato Institute’s Sphere Education Initiatives hosted Nadine Strossen, right, for a special release of her new book, Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know. Strossen discussed how recent years have produced increasing attacks on the idea of free speech with Allan Carey, director of Sphere Education Initiatives.

Staying Ahead of the Crypto Curve

Cato’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives Annual Conference featured a fireside chat with Sen. Bill Hagerty (R‑TN), left, moderated by Jennifer Schulp, Cato’s director of financial regulation studies. Panels of experts discussed crypto regulation, stablecoins, and US competitiveness.

Economic Equity Debate at Cato

Leading student debaters from the Washington Urban Debate League in Washington, DC, visited Cato for the Sphere Education Initiatives special event “I RESOLVE: A Public Student Debate on Economic Equity.” They were joined by an expert panel of judges from across the ideological spectrum who offered feedback and insights after the debate.

Why and How Argentina Should Dollarize

Ian Vásquez, top, Cato’s vice president for international studies, was joined by Manuel Hinds, bottom left, the former minister of finance of El Salvador, and Emilio Ocampo, bottom right, adviser on dollarization to Argentina’s new president Javier Milei, to discuss the need for Argentina to replace the peso with the dollar in the policy forum “Why and How Argentina Should Dollarize.”

Freeing American Families

Policy analysts often assume that pro‐​fertility and pro‐​family policies must include direct payments to families or the development of new social spending programs. But in many countries, these policies have been expensive and unsuccessful at raising fertility back to replacement levels and sustaining it there. Instead of replicating costly and unsuccessful international initiatives, policymakers should recognize that a genuinely pro‐​family policy means less government, not more.

Terrorism and Immigration

Terrorism presents a real threat to the life, liberty, and property of Americans. That has led many Americans to worry about foreign‐​born terrorists entering the United States, either legally or illegally, and carrying out disastrous attacks. But the annual chance of being murdered in a normal homicide is about 316 times as great as dying in an attack committed by a foreign‐​born terrorist on US soil. This policy analysis examines the past, so it does not project future trends. Nonetheless, the past is the best guide to understanding what could happen with foreign‐​born terrorism in the coming years.