Government and Politics

How Markets Empower Women: Innovation and Market Participation Transform Women’s Lives for the Better

Over the last 200 years, economic progress has helped to bring about both dramatically better standards of living and the extension of individual dignity to women in the developed world. Today the same story of market-driven empowerment is repeating itself in developing countries. In a new paper, Cato scholar Chelsea Follett illustrates how innovation and market participation enable women to achieve greater material prosperity and promote positive cultural change away from sexism.

Free Speech and Tolerance in America

The Cato 2017 Free Speech and Tolerance Survey, a new national poll of 2,300 U.S. adults, finds that nearly three-fourths (71%) of Americans believe that political correctness has silenced important discussions our society needs to have. The consequences are personal – 58% of Americans believe the political climate prevents them from sharing their own political beliefs. “These data show why censoring offensive speech is difficult—Americans can’t agree what speech is offensive or shouldn’t be allowed,” said Cato’s Emily Ekins. “What is deeply offensive to one person may simply be a political opinion to another. These data show that if we silence speech that any number of people find offensive, we will shut down a wide variety of important political debates.”

Cato Handbook for Policymakers, 8th Edition

The direction of public policy is far less clear than usual after an election. Almost a full year into President Trump’s new administration, we still don’t know what kind of policy will be enacted in several areas. At the Cato Institute, we stand firmly on the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — on the bedrock American values of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Throughout our 40 years, we have been willing to criticize officials of both parties when they sought to take the country in another direction. The 8th Edition of the Cato Handbook for Policymakers gives concrete advice on how to promote those American values and restore government to its proper role.

Cato Studies

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Of Special Note

The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America’s Poor

The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America's Poor

The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America’s Poor energetically challenges the conventional wisdom of both the right and the left that underlies much of the contemporary debate over poverty and welfare policy. Author and national public policy expert Michael Tanner takes to task conservative critiques of a “culture of poverty” for their failure to account for the structural circumstances in which the poor live. In addition, he criticizes liberal calls for fighting poverty primarily through greater redistribution of wealth and new government programs.

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Cato Pocket Constitution

To encourage people everywhere to better understand and appreciate the principles of government that are set forth in America’s founding documents, the Cato Institute published this pocket-size edition.

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Home Study Resources

The Cato Institute offers a wealth of online educational audio and video resources, from self-paced guides on the ideas of liberty and the principles of economics, to exclusive, archived lectures by thinkers such as Milton Friedman and F. A. Hayek. Browse through some highlights of our collections, for personal study or for use in the classroom.

The Jones Act: Charting a New Course after a Century of Failure

For nearly 100 years the Jones Act has restricted the transportation of cargo between two points in the U.S. to ships that are U.S.-built, crewed, owned, and flagged. Meant to bolster the U.S. maritime industry, the Act has instead led to a steady deterioration in the number of ships, sailors, shipyards, and has imposed large economic burdens. This full-day conference examined the Act in greater detail and evaluated options for reform.