![Regulation - v48n1 - Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/serial_cover_phone/public/2025-03/Regulation%20-%20v48n1%20-%20Cover.jpg?itok=IlH39H8C) # Spring 2025 Vol. 48 No. 1 [Subscribe](https://store.cato.org/collections/all-products/products/regulation-magazine) ##### From the Cover ### [The Perils of ‘Free’ Information ](/regulation/spring-2025/perils-free-information) By Jonathan M. Barnett Contrary to some activists’ and academics’ claims, weak IP rights can suppress innovation and competition. ##### Behind the Issue ### *Unintended Consequences* ##### The Podcast of *Regulation* In This Episode Every minute, over 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube. Some of those videos likely infringe on existing intellectual property rights. In his *Regulation* [cover article](https://www.cato.org/regulation/spring-2025/perils-free-information), law professor Jonathan Barnett argues that protections for intellectual property, including on platforms like YouTube, have become too weakened. That has resulted in a massive redistribution of wealth from IP holders to online platforms and users. Yet by lowering the functional costs of sharing ideas and data, the internet has generated an explosion in creativity, which is ostensibly the purpose of granting IP rights in the first place. Join Peter and Paul as they discuss whether there’s an optimal degree of strictness for intellectual property rights. In conjunction with *Regulation* Magazine Spring 2025 edition. [ Download Episode ](https://feeds.acast.com/public/streams/643947a1309d10001195d3e7/episodes/6813d2b76ac0e5213bfa67f0.mp3)Subscribe: [ Apple Podcasts ](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unintended-consequences/id1684573879) [ Spotify ](https://open.spotify.com/show/693Xy6u85pJX42IPsUK7cE) ##### Features #### [The Fate of ‘Never Needed’ Regulations ](/regulation/spring-2025/fate-never-needed-regulations) By John Berlau and Ryan Young What happened to regulations that were suspended during the Covid-19 emergency? #### [Restraining ‘Theft by the State’ ](/regulation/spring-2025/restraining-theft-state) By Jonathan Klick and Gideon Parchomovsky In its 2023 decision on home equity theft, the Supreme Court showed property rights aren’t only for the rich. #### [How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Index Funds ](/regulation/spring-2025/how-i-stopped-worrying-learned-love-index-funds) By Richard A. Booth Can passive investing be both meddlesome and neglectful? #### [Should PM2.5 Regulation Be Decentralized? ](/regulation/spring-2025/should-pm25-regulation-be-decentralized) By [David Kemp](https://www.cato.org/people/david-kemp) and [Peter Van Doren](https://www.cato.org/people/peter-van-doren) Particulate controls yield large benefits in some places and bizarre policies in others. #### [All the Presidents’ Regulations ](/regulation/spring-2025/all-presidents-regulations) By Clifford Winston John Graham’s new book is a good starting place to understand recent federal regulatory policy and what may lie ahead. ##### Briefly Noted ##### [The Climate Policy Warning in Democrats’ Defeat ](/regulation/spring-2025/climate-policy-warning-democrats-defeat) By Richard B. McKenzie At every turn in the debate, climate activists have been silent on the costs of their preferred policies or attested that those costs would be trivial. ##### [TikTok, Public Choice, and the Theater of the Absurd ](/regulation/spring-2025/tiktok-public-choice-theater-absurd) By Pierre Lemieux Public choice theory assumes that state agents act in their own interests, just like they do when they participate in ordinary (non-political) markets. ##### In Review ##### [Book Review: *Sociology and Classical Liberalism in Dialogue*](/regulation/spring-2025/book-review-sociology-classical-liberalism-dialogue) By George C. Leef ##### [Book Review: *Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (And How It Got That Way)*](/regulation/spring-2025/book-review-making-it-america-almost-impossible-quest-manufacture-usa-how-it-got-way) By Greg Kaza ##### [Book Review: *The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It*](/regulation/spring-2025/review-bankers-new-clothes-whats-wrong-banking-what-do-about-it) By Phil R. Murray ##### [Book Review: *Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World Order*](/regulation/spring-2025/book-review-paper-soldiers-how-weaponization-dollar-changed-world-order) By Vern McKinley ##### [Book Review: *Plastic Capitalism: Banks, Credit Cards, and the End of Financial Control*](/regulation/spring-2025/book-review-plastic-capitalism-banks-credit-cards-end-financial-control) By Vern McKinley ##### [Book Review: *Justice and Its Surroundings*](/regulation/spring-2025/book-review-justice-its-surroundings) By Pierre Lemieux ##### [Book Review: *Progressive Myths*](/regulation/spring-2025/book-review-progressive-myths) By Art Carden ##### [Working Papers ](/regulation/spring-2025/working-papers) By [Peter Van Doren](https://www.cato.org/people/peter-van-doren) ##### Final Word ##### [Restrained by the Invisible Hand ](/regulation/spring-2025/restrained-invisible-hand) By Tim Rowland The futility of protectionism is well-documented, and tariffs need no further debunking. ##### Latest Issues [![Regulation - Fall 2026 - Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/serial_cover_phone/public/2026-09/regulation-fall-2026-cover.jpg?itok=4PdTh8RK)](https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2026) [Fall 2026](/regulation/fall-2026) [![Regulation - Summer 2026 - Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/serial_cover_phone/public/2026-06/regulation-summer-2026-cover.jpg?itok=mgR9E73X)](https://www.cato.org/regulation/summer-2026) [Summer 2026](/regulation/summer-2026) [![Regulation - Spring 2026 - Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/serial_cover_phone/public/2026-03/regulation-spring-2026-cover.png?itok=_E4_q18u)](https://www.cato.org/regulation/spring-2026) [Spring 2026](/regulation/spring-2026) [![Regulation Winter 2025-2026 Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/serial_cover_phone/public/2025-12/regulation-v48n4-cover.jpg?itok=QSGuJRQT)](https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2025-2026) [Winter 2025–2026](/regulation/winter-2025-2026)