Creating free, open, and civil societies
founded on libertarian principles.
Cato in the News
Noteworthy op-eds, TV appearances, and media highlights.
Cato Quarterly
Events, publications, and studies.
Features
Once Silenced by the SEC, Now Free to Speak
For more than 50 years, the SEC made silence a nonnegotiable condition of settlement, muzzling the very people best positioned to criticize the agency. Now that the SEC has rescinded its gag order policy, many of those people are eager to tell their stories.
The Liberty Generation?
Distrustful of government and disillusioned with both parties, many young Americans are searching for a political home. Those finding their way to libertarianism offer clues to reaching others in their generation.
The High Costs of Taxing Wealth
Gov. Gavin Newsom fears that a wealth tax will chase away California’s billionaires. But capital flight is only the most visible consequence, and taking the wealth tax national would result in reduced investment, less innovation, and slower wage growth to the detriment of everyone.
The Good News for Libertarians: Liberty Still Advances
Pro-liberty victories, large and small, were won in the courts, in Congress, in the administration, and abroad—despite the economic nationalism of President Trump’s Republican Party and the collectivist politics of the left.
Infinite Scroll: Psychologist Adam Omary on Screens, Mental Health, and Moral Panic
High schools are banning phones from classrooms, college professors say their students can’t read whole books, and some countries are barring kids from social media altogether. But is this worldwide panic over the ubiquity of screens outrunning the evidence?
Surveillance Creep, from Nogales to Pawtucket
As the backlash against Flock Safety cameras grows, Americans are challenging surveillance powers long familiar to border communities. Some of the dissent is coming from inside law enforcement.
A Series of Constitutional Thunderclaps
How Cato’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies went from a napkin sketch to a crucial independent voice in America’s courtrooms.
The LONG Bet
A 26-year-old market risk manager on rule of law, reaching younger generations, and why he’s already named Cato a beneficiary of his retirement account.
Last Word: Cato’s 300-Year-Old Guide to Election Season
The important question is not how a candidate behaves while asking for power, but how that person is likely to behave once the need for your vote passes: ‘These humble creatures, who now bow down before you, will soon look down upon you.’
All civil virtue and happiness, every moral excellency, all politeness, all good arts and sciences, are produced by liberty.
John Trenchard
and Thomas Gordon








