The English language Russian news agency, Sputnik, reports that former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is advising US president-elect Donald Trump how to “bring the United States and Russia closer together to offset China’s military buildup.” If we take this report at face value, it tells us that Kissinger, an old cold warrior, is… Read More »
A new bulletin from scholar K. William Watson reviews the Cato Institute’s congressional trade votes database for the 112th Congress and reveals how its individual members voted on major trade bills and amendments. Watson includes an explanation of each major trade vote during the 112th Congress as well as analysis of members’ trade policy profiles… Read More »
First there was the “East Asian Miracle”; now comes the “Asian century.” The aftermath of the recent global economic crisis has reinforced a sense that the world is “shifting East”—to Asia. In a new paper, author Razeen Sally looks at the unprecedented expansion of economic freedom in Asia. “All over Asia, space is opening up… Read More »
In his new book, Poverty and Progress: Realities and Myths about Global Poverty, renowned development economist Deepak Lal draws on 50 years of experience around the globe to describe developing-country realities and rectify misguided notions about economic progress. Unique among books that have emerged in recent years on world poverty, Poverty and Progress directly confronts… Read More »
The Obama administration reportedly has decided to provide “direct military aid” to Syria’s insurgents, after concluding that Syrian forces were using chemical weapons. But according to Cato scholar Doug Bandow, this kind of messy conflict is precisely the sort that Washington should avoid. “Americans should have something fundamental at stake before their government calls them… Read More »
While national parks and wildlife refuges can charge entry fees, managers of other federal lands can only charge for developed recreation, such as campgrounds, not dispersed recreation, such as hiking and backpacking. In a new paper, Cato scholar Randal O’Toole argues that Congress should allow federal land agencies to charge market rates for all forms… Read More »
The New Starts program, created by Congress in 1991, “is the federal government’s primary financial resource for supporting locally-planned, implemented, and operated transit ‘guideway’ capital investments.” In a new paper, Cato scholar Randal O’Toole shows that New Starts has effectively given transit agencies incentives to select the costliest, rather than the most cost-effective, alternative to… Read More »
Two new studies from the Cato Institute examine the history of the gold standard, and highlight some barriers to the idea of reinstituting a gold standard. In the first paper, economist George Selgin reviews the history of the gold standard in the United States and explains how it eventually came to an end. And in… Read More »
Privacy, Regulation, and the Internet (Exploring Liberty) The news that the NSA has been indiscriminately collecting the phone and Internet logs of Americans under sweeping Patriot Act orders has provoked outrage from civil libertarians. But there are also plenty of quieter voices wondering why law-abiding citizens should be concerned about bulk data collection if there’s… Read More »
The Supreme Court on Monday released a compromise ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, instructing the federal appeals court to apply tougher scrutiny to a University of Texas affirmative action program. The Court, however, did not offer a broader decision on reining in the use of race in university admissions decisions. “Narrow… Read More »