Cato Podcast

Kidneys, 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.

The 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.

The 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.

California’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.

The US-China summit produced few deliverables and no breakthroughs on Taiwan, Iran, or trade. Cato's Clark Packard and Evan Sankey break down what was actually agreed, why rare earths and semiconductors have created a strategic stalemate, and what the US should do before Xi comes to Washington.

Asylum entries are down 99.9%. Student visas, family visas, and H-1B applications have all cratered. Ryan Bourne is joined by Cato's David Bier to examine how President Trump's executive actions have blocked far more legal immigrants than illegal ones, and why the president's stated support for legal immigration doesn't match his policy record.

Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 sat dormant for 50 years for good reason. Cato's Clark Packard and Alfredo Carrillo Obregon break down why courts keep rejecting the administration's tariff theories and what the looming Section 301 investigations mean for American importers.

Federal farm subsidies have kept growing from occasional disaster relief into a sprawling system of commodity supports, crop insurance, sugar protection, and bailouts. With the backdrop of the Farm Bill, Cato’s Ryan Bourne, Chris Edwards, and Clark Packard discuss who really benefits, why reform never sticks, and how tariffs hurt farmers that Congress then subsidize.