Regulatory Studies

Making Sense of the Minimum Wage: A Roadmap for Navigating Recent Research

For decades, debates over the minimum wage have been tense among advocates, policymakers, and professional researchers alike. While professional economists were once broadly skeptical of the benefits of a minimum wage, that consensus has eroded. Following decades of moderate minimum wage changes, select cities and states have recently passed substantial increases. In a new paper, economics professor Jeffrey Clemens discusses four ways in which the case for large minimum wage increases is either mistaken or overstated.

Should Automakers Be Responsible for Accidents?

Motor vehicles are among the most dangerous products sold anywhere. But according to many auto-industry experts, the eventual transition to driverless vehicles will drastically lower the economic and noneconomic costs of auto accidents. How should the automobile tort/insurance regime be rede-signed to take into account the emergence of driverless vehicles? In the new issue of Regulation, Kyle D. Logue proposes to replace our current auto tort regime with a single comprehensive automaker enterprise liability system. Also in this issue, Ike Brannon and M. Kevin McGee argue that the Trump administration’s decision to rescind H-4 visa holders’ ability to work fails to meet any credible benefit–cost analysis.

How ‘Market Failure’ Arguments Lead to Misguided Policy

“Market failure” is a common justification for new government policies. Proponents of interventions love to point to instances of apparently imperfect markets and assume that government taxation, subsidies, and regulation can seamlessly perfect them, thus maximizing social welfare. But according to a new paper by Cato scholar Ryan Bourne, this simplistic approach—predicated on the idea that government can perfect markets—leads to more intervention or higher taxes than what is optimal and has significant unintended consequences.

Cato Studies

Rational Self-Medication

By Michael E. Darden and Nicholas W. Papageorge. Research Briefs in Economic Policy No. 160. April 24, 2019.

More Cato Studies

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.

Sphere Summit: Teaching Civic Culture Together

For more than four decades, the Cato Institute has introduced people, including millions of young people, to the ideas of freedom. Many Cato books are already taught in high school curricula across the country. To advance the ideas of liberal democracy and the rule of law, Cato has developed the Sphere Summit for educators. The opening Summit seminar, “Teaching Civic Culture Together,” will be held at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, on July 14–18, 2019.