Cato Institute

The Cato Institute is a research organization focused on public policy, often referred to as a think tank. Its mission is to champion individual freedom, limited government, free markets, and peace. The institute's researchers and experts engage in impartial and independent studies on a variety of policy topics. Established in 1977, the Cato Institute draws its name from Cato's Letters, a collection of essays from 18th-century England that advocated for a society with minimal government interference. These writings were influential to the founders of the American Revolution. The core principles of that era—individual freedom, limited government, and free markets—remain relevant today, especially in our age of global commerce and vast information access. Promoting social and economic liberty is not just beneficial for a free society; it is essential for shaping a brighter future.

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Reinventing the Trade Deal Wheel, Only Much Worse

16 hours ago | cato.org | Scott Lincicome

Ignoring past process and doing stuff on “Trump time” won’t make these obstacles magically go away.
The Constitutional Case Against Trump’s Trade War

3 days ago | cato.org | Ilya Somin

Article I of the Constitution clearly gives Congress, not the president, the power to regulate “commerce with foreign nations” and to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” The administration claims the tariffs are authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA).
Make the NEA Conservative?

6 days ago | cato.org | Ryan Bourne

This impulse is a prime example of how public funding for art inevitably ends up politicizing it. April 18, 2025 • Commentary This article appeared on The War on Prices on April 18, 2025. Last week in the New York Times, Emory professor Mark Bauerlein made a surprising pitch to President Trump: don’t kill the National Endowments for Humanities and the Arts—hijack them.
Actually, Wall Street (Kinda) Is Main Street

1 week ago | cato.org | Scott Lincicome

And tariffs are harming both. April 17, 2025 • Commentary This article appeared in The Dispatch on April 17, 2025. Recent tariff-related turmoil in the U.S. stock market has motivated several Trump administration officials and many of their online allies to shrug it off as unrepresentative of the “real” U.S. economy.
Planning Reform Is the Tax Cut That Pays for Itself

1 week ago | cato.org | Ryan Bourne

Britain needs pro-growth policies that don’t rely on big spending or fiscal gimmicks, and the Office for Budget Responsibility seems to think this is possible. April 7, 2025 • Commentary This article appeared in The Times on April 2, 2025. Amid last week’s spring statement gloom, Rachel Reeves enjoyed one piece of unambiguously good news: the Office for Budget Responsibility concluded that Labour’s planning reforms will meaningfully boost real GDP.
Immigrants, Housing Wealth, and Local Government Finances

1 week ago | cato.org | Jacob L. Vigdor |David Bier |Michael Howard

Immigration has increased sharply in recent years, and many people worry about its potential effects on government budgets. Many analyses have concluded that immigration is clearly a fiscal benefit to the federal government, but state and local effects can depend more on the particular circumstances in those areas.
81 Percent Say They Can’t Afford to Pay Higher Taxes Next Year

1 week ago | cato.org | Hunter Johnson

Generated with ElevenLabs AI technology. The Cato Institute’s 2025 Fiscal Policy National Survey of 2,000 Americans, conducted by YouGov, found that 81 percent of Americans say they can’t afford to pay higher taxes next year if the 2017 tax cuts are allowed to expire this year. As the country prepares for Tax Day tomorrow, the survey found that most think their taxes are too high (55 percent) and believe their tax bill exceeds their fair share (55 percent).
He Just Likes Tariffs

2 weeks ago | cato.org | Scott Lincicome

The Post adds that, per various insiders, Trump has also been unmoved by the recent market chaos because “he is determined to listen to a single voice—his own—to secure what he views as his political legacy,” one centered on the view that sees “import duties as necessary to revive the U.S. economy.”Why Trump thinks this way is anyone’s guess.
Just the One Cheer for Starmer's Civil Service Reform

2 weeks ago | cato.org | Ryan Bourne

The prime minister wants government to do what it does now, only better. That’s not radical enough. March 26, 2025 • Commentary This article appeared in The Times on March 26, 2025. Our Labour government won’t like the comparison, but has it embraced the thinking of Elon Musk? In recent weeks it has slammed civil service bloat, highlighted difficulties in shifting poor performers and talked up artificial intelligence replacing government employees.
End the National Endowment for the Arts

2 weeks ago | cato.org | Ryan Bourne

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aims to cut federal spending and shutter superfluous government agencies. An obvious target for elimination, with support from Congress, would be the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The NEA provides grants to museums, symphony orchestras, dance companies, theater groups, literary organizations, and state and regional arts agencies through small-scale funding under the banner of expanding public engagement with the arts.