Cato Daily Podcast

The housing market needs less government intervention, both in terms of zoning and building codes that add enormously to construction costs. Emily Hamilton of the Mercatus Center comments.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump said that his political rivals should be prosecuted. Now, his appointees will head the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies. Clark Neily discusses the potential turnabout in the use of federal law enforcement’s coercive tactics.

A little-noted federal law – currently on hold – dramatically expands government surveillance of millions of Americans by requiring tens of millions of businesses to collect and send specific data about the businesses' beneficiaries. Jennifer Schulp and Brent Skorup comment.

Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty is worth revisiting in part because of its call for a liberalism that takes seriously the contributions of fields well beyond economics. Paul Meany explains why that's important.

John Hasnas says the common law has a lot to recommend it over lawmaker legislating. He makes his case in Common Law Liberalism: A New Theory of the Libertarian Society.

Who controls currently federal lands can tell us quite a bit about how wildfire risks are likely to be managed. Hannah Down of the Property and Environment Research Center comments.

What's the middle ground between local zoning tyrannies and state preemption? Mark Miller of the Pacific Legal Foundation discusses ways to expand housing production amid restrictionist local zoning.

Flavored e-cigarettes are a popular whipping boy for would-be regulators. Jeff Singer explains why it's terrible policy to punish would-be former smokers.

Downtowns built 100 years ago are still viable, so why are they so hard to build today? Andrew Cline is president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy. We talked about what's instructive about the changes in New Hampshire's zoning rules that have left so many towns unable to renew themselves.