Share

Cato Podcast
Free Markets for Electricity
Ep. 55
•
As data centers begin demanding power at the scale of entire cities, the electricity system is running headlong into regulatory barriers built for a different era. The Cato Institute's Travis Fisher sits down with Glen Lyons, the founder of Advocates for Consumer Regulated Electricity, to explore proposals for off-grid utilities, Senator Tom Cotton’s new legislation, and how market-based approaches could accelerate supply while protecting consumers from rising costs and reliability risks.
More episodes
View all episodes

100. The Degrowth Temptation
47:14||Ep. 100A new Global Justice Report associated with Thomas Piketty urges near-zero growth for rich countries, sweeping redistribution, global wealth taxes, shorter working hours, and rapid decarbonization. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to Marian Tupy about what degrowth gets wrong—and why its promise of justice masks a dangerous agenda of government control.
99. The Retirement System That Works Against You
27:12||Ep. 99Social Security crowds out private savings, the tax code penalizes investment, and Trump accounts can leave families worse off than a plain brokerage account. Cato's Romina Boccia and Adam Michel break down what's wrong with Trump accounts and why universal savings accounts are the fix.
98. Economics In One World Cup
44:45||Ep. 98Ticket prices, scalpers, tourists, visas, turf, trade, and politics: the 2026 FIFA World Cup is a rich case study for economists. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks with AEI’s Stan Veuger about why match prices are so high, why hosting the tournament rarely delivers an economic boom, how soccer became an exemplar of globalization, and what FIFA teaches us about the benefits and risks of global governance.
97. When the President Sues the Government He Controls
47:09||Ep. 97The Anti-Weaponization Fund started as a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS in his personal capacity and ended as a $1.776 billion slush fund with no appeals, no transparency, and a tax immunity addendum that looks a lot like a self-pardon. Tad DeHaven and Daniel Greenberg join Molly Nixon to unpack what happened and why it should alarm everyone.
96. The Markets We Love to Ban
46:52||Ep. 96Kidneys, surrogacy, prostitution, gambling, price gouging, assisted dying: some transactions make people recoil, even when all parties consent. Cato's Ryan Bourne talks with Nobel Prize-winning economist Alvin Roth about his new book, Moral Economics, what makes markets “repugnant,” what economists can add to moral debates, and why banning exchange rarely makes scarcity, exploitation, or hard trade-offs disappear.
95. What "All Men Are Created Equal" Actually Meant
34:13||Ep. 95Most Americans can recite the Declaration's second paragraph. Far fewer understand what it really means. Paul Meany sits down with Timothy Sandefur to dig into his new book Proclaiming Liberty to recover the Declaration as a scientifically grounded, universally applicable claim about human nature, not just a founding myth.
94. Louisiana v. Callais and the Future of the Voting Rights Act
34:12||Ep. 94The Supreme Court's Callais decision signals that drawing districts with race in mind is now legally hazardous, whether the goal is minority representation or not. Cato's Thomas A. Berry and Walter Olson unpack the ruling, the collision between the 14th and 15th Amendments, and why a simple compactness rule could solve most of this if Congress had the will.
93. Get a Warrant!
28:29||Ep. 93The third party doctrine has gutted the Fourth Amendment in the digital age, letting the government collect your data without ever getting a warrant. Cato's Nick Anthony and Naomi Brockwell of the Ludlow Institute discuss a new bill that would change that, and what you can do to protect yourself today.
92. Out to Lunch: California’s $20 Fast-Food Wage
47:56||Ep. 92California’s $20 fast-food minimum wage cut employment by roughly 18,000 jobs and pushed up restaurant prices. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to UC San Diego economist Jeff Clemens about California’s wage-floor experiment—and the broader lessons for state and federal minimum wage policy.