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211. James Madison

Author:
John Samples
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Richard Brookhiser, a longtime senior editor of National Review, has contributed more than most to satisfying the revivified demand for books about the lives and works of the American Founders. He has published books about Washington, Hamilton, the Adamses, Gouverneur Morris, and now James Madison. His biography is both serious and readable.
Political Geography:
China, America, and Washington

212. The Ethics of Voting

Author:
Aaron Powell
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Grab anyone at a coffee shop, political rally, or cocktail party. Ask him, “Do you think we have a duty to vote?” Chances are he'll say “Yes.” Follow it up with, “Is it because there's something special about voting that places it above other duties we might have, like sayavoiding speeding or paying our taxes?” It's a safe bet you'll get a “yes” to this one as well.Jason Brennan calls the thinking behind these twin affirmatives the “folk theory of voting ethics.” It's the common view of civics classes, straw polls, and town hall meetings. The folk theory is what we all learn in school, along with the three branches of government and the Founding Fathers.
Political Geography:
America

213. The Concept of Justice: Is Social Justice Just?

Author:
Trevor Burrus
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Justice is the primary object of political philosophy. Yet, like so many of our highest aspirations, we are prone to use capacious words that can create consensus in their most abstract formulations but engender discord, if not worse, in more specific forms. “Justice” hasalways been like this. During a civil war or an intense political conflict, both sides will preach the justness of their cause, and neither will claim to be fighting on the side of “injustice.”
Topic:
War

214. Editor's Note

Author:
James A. Dorn
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
This special issue of the Cato Journal stems from the Cato Institute's 29th Annual Monetary Conference—Monetary Reform in the Wake of Crisis—held in Washington, D.C., November 16, 2011. At no time since the founding of the Federal Reserve nearly a century ago has it been more important to reconsider the role of monetary policy in a free society. In particular, as F. A. Hayek noted, “All those who wish to stop the drift toward increasing government control should concentrate their effort on monetary policy.”
Political Geography:
Washington

215. The Eurozone Crisis and Global Monetary Reform: A Conversation

Author:
Robert B. Zoellick and Sebastian Mallaby
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Sebastian Mallaby: We are here to talk to Bob Zoellick. I have been in Washington 16 years, Bob is the personification of the kind of silo busting polymathic energy which says, I am not just interested in international economics, I am not just interested in international relations, I am not just a U.S. government official, I am also going to do multilateral diplomacy. So Bob has been on all sides of those various divides. He has a voracious intellect, so it is always interesting to speak with him whether he is in office or out of office.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Washington

216. Understanding the Interventionist Impulse of the Modern Central Bank

Author:
Jeffrey M. Lacker
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 was a watershed event for the Federal Reserve and other central banks. The extraordinary actions they took have been described, alternatively, as a natural extension of monetary policy to extreme circumstances or as a problematic exercise in credit allocation. I have expressed my view elsewhere that much of the Fed's response to the crisis falls in the latter category rather than the former (Lacker 2010). Rather than reargue that case, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the institutional reasons behind the prevailing propensity of many modern central banks to intervene in credit markets.
Topic:
Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
United States

217. Federal Reserve Policy in the Great Recession

Author:
Allan H. Meltzer
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Overresponse to short-run events and neglect of longer-term consequences of its actions is one of the main errors that the Federal Reserve makes repeatedly. The current recession offers many examples of actions that some characterize as bold and innovative. I regard many of these actions as inappropriate for an allegedly independent central bank because they involve credit allocation, fill the Fed's portfolio with an unprecedented volume of long-term assets, evade or neglect the dual mandate, distort the credit markets, and initiate other actions that are not the responsibility of a central bank.
Political Geography:
America

218. The Fed's Fatal Conceit

Author:
John A. Allison
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
I strongly believe that the recent financial crisis, ensuing recession, and slow recovery were primarily caused by government policy. The Federal Reserve made some very bad monetary decisions that created a bubble, i.e., a massive malinvestment. The bubble ended up being focused in the housing market largely because of government affordable housing policies—specifically, the actions of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, government-sponsored enterprises that would not exist in a free market. When Freddie and Fannie failed, they owed $5.5 trillion including $2 trillion in affordable housing (subprime) loans. It's true that a number of banks made serious mistakes, and I would have let them fail, but their mistakes were secondary and within the context of government policy.
Political Geography:
United States

219. Only a Crisis Will Bring Money Reform

Author:
George Melloan
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
“Well, if I had a nickel, I know what I would do. I'd spend it all on candy and give it all to you. . . . Cause that's how much I love you baby.” That wasn't a very generous proposition even in 1946, when country singer Eddy Arnold wrote those words. But at least a nickel would buy a good-sized Baby Ruth or Clark bar. Today? A jelly bean, perhaps?
Political Geography:
United States and United Kingdom

220. Banking Dysfunction

Author:
James A. Grant
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
"Has anyone bothered to study the cumulative effect of all these things?" the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase reasonably inquired of the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board at a bankers gathering in Atlanta last June. The CEO, Jamie Dimon, was referring to the combination of cyclical hangover and regulatory constriction. The chairman, Ben Bernanke, replied, "It's just too complicated. We don't really have the quantitative tools to do that" (Grant and Masters 2011: 1).
Political Geography:
America