Menu Mandates and Obesity: A Futile Effort

One provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that has been delayed until 2017 is a federal mandate for standard menu items in restaurants and some other venues to contain nutrition labeling. The stated motivation for such menu mandates is to reduce the number of overweight and obese Americans by reducing their consumption of calories. In a new study, Cato scholar Aaron Yelowitz finds that the impact of such labeling requirements on BMI, obesity, and other health-related outcomes is trivial.

Global Steel Overcapacity: Trade Remedy “Cure” Is Worse than the “Disease”

Domestic U.S. steel producers are exposed to unfairly low-priced steel and are understandably unhappy. Their traditional response has been to seek relief from troublesome imports, primarily by filing antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) petitions. In a new bulletin, Cato scholar Daniel R. Pearson argues that these measures do great harm to manufacturing companies by making steel in the United States higher in price than in most of the rest of the world.

Cato University 2016

Cato University is the Cato Institute’s premier educational event of the year, bringing together like-minded people to share ideas on how to advance, enhance, and defend the principles of liberty, free markets, and individual rights. This annual program – held this year at Cato in Washington, DC from July 24-29 – brings together outstanding faculty and participants from across the globe – all sharing a commitment to liberty and learning. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) will be giving a special lecture this year on “Defending Liberty in the Halls of Congress.”

Privatizing the U.S. Postal Service

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is a major business enterprise operated by the federal government. But with the rise of electronic communications, mail volume has plunged, and the 600,000-worker USPS has been losing billions of dollars a year. In a new bulletin, Cato scholar Chris Edwards argues that other countries facing falling mail volume have privatized their systems and opened them to competition. “America,” says Edwards, “should follow suit and liberalize its postal industry so that it can adjust to changes in the modern Internet-based economy.”

Recent Commentary

Events

April 20

Mission Failure: America and the World in the Post–Cold War Era

Featuring the author Michael Mandelbaum, Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; with comments by Keir Lieber, Associate Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; and Brad Stapleton, Visiting Research Fellow, Cato Institute; moderated by John Mueller, Senior Research Scientist, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Ohio State University, and Senior Fellow, Cato Institute.

12:00PM to 1:30PM
 Hayek Auditorium

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Of Special Note

Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America

Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America

Ten years after the Supreme Court’s infamous eminent domain decision, Kelo v. New London, Timothy and Christina Sanderfur’s Cornerstone of Liberty examines how dozens of new developments in courtrooms and legislatures across the country have shifted the landscape of private property rights since 2005. Through a combination of real-life stories and solid legal analysis, the authors explain how key issues like eminent domain, civil asset forfeiture, and environmental protection regulations have evolved and how they should be reformed.

Purchase your copy today

Special! 10 Copies for $10

Cato Pocket Constitution

To encourage people everywhere to better understand and appreciate the principles of government that are set forth in America’s founding documents, the Cato Institute published this pocket-size edition.

Now Available

The Libertarian Mind Audiobook

The Libertarian Mind, by David Boaz, longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, is the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of libertarianism, and is the ultimate resource for the current, burgeoning libertarian movement. This acclaimed book is now available as a fully unabridged audiobook, ready for immediate downloading, on Audible.com.

Lukewarming

The 2016 Friedman Prize: Register Now to Attend

The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, named in honor of perhaps the greatest champion of liberty in the 20th century, is presented every other year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to advance human freedom. Registrations are now being accepted for the 2016 Biennial Dinner, which will be held on May 25, 2016 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton will be delivering the keynote address.