Regulatory Studies

Reforming the National Flood Insurance Program: Toward Private Flood Insurance

Authorization for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) expires on September 30, 2017, offering policymakers an opportunity to rethink the scheme and bring forward reforms that would allow a private flood insurance market to develop in its place. In a new paper, Cato’s Ike Brannon and Ari Blask delve into the NFIP’s history, structure, and current problems, as well as the failures of recent reform efforts. The authors conclude in their analysis that, by all salient criteria, a private market is superior to a government-run flood insurance program.

The New Feudalism: Why States Must Repeal Growth-Management Laws

Advocates of growth-management laws, which strictly regulate what people can and cannot do with their land in the name of controlling urban sprawl, say that it produces many benefits, including preservation of farm lands, energy savings, reduced air pollution, and lower infrastructure costs. In a new paper, Cato scholar Randal O’Toole argues that growth management slows regional growth, exacerbates income inequality, and particularly harms low-income families, especially minorities such as African Americans and Latinos.

Options for Federal Privatization and Reform Lessons from Abroad

The American economy is sluggish, the government is running large deficits, and the public is frustrated with the poor performance of federal bureaucracies. One reform that can tackle all of these problems is privatizing federal businesses and assets.  In a new study, Cato scholar Chris Edwards discusses a dozen advantages of privatization and describes government activities that should be moved to the private sector.

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Of Special Note

The Three Languages of Politics

The Three Languages of Politics

First released in 2013, and now available as a newly revised Cato ebook and paperback, Arnold Kling’s The Three Languages of Politics could not be any more timely, as Americans talk past one another in a growing swirl of volume, heat, and disinterest in contrary opinions. An insightful guide on how to lower the barriers coarsening our politics, this isn’t a book about one ideology over another. Instead, it is about how we communicate issues and our ideologies, and how language intended to persuade can too often divide. Kling offers a way to see through our rhetorical blinders so that we can incorporate new perspectives and thinking into the important issues we must together share and resolve.

Special! 10 Copies for $10

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.

Now Available

The Libertarian Mind Audiobook

The Libertarian Mind, by David Boaz, longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, is the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of libertarianism, and is the ultimate resource for the current, burgeoning libertarian movement. This acclaimed book is now available as a fully unabridged audiobook, ready for immediate downloading, on Audible.com.

The Supreme Court: Past and Prologue
A Look at the October 2016 and 2017 Terms

The annual Constitution Day symposium, presented by Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies, marks the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. We celebrate that event each year with the release of the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review and with a day-long symposium featuring noted scholars discussing the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the important cases coming up.