Cato Institute#Shareholder dispute and departure of Ed Crane

The institute was founded in January 1977 in San Francisco, California; named at the suggestion of cofounder Rothbard after Cato's Letters, a series of British essays penned in the early 18th century by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon.The essays, named after Cato the Younger, the defender of republican institutions in Rome, expounded on the political views of philosopher John Locke, that had a strong influence on the American Revolution's intellectual environment. See: {{cite journal |last=Mitchell|first=Annie|title=A Liberal Republican "Cato"|journal=American Journal of Political Science|date=July 2004|volume=48|doi=10.1111/j.0092-5853.2004.00089.x|issue=3|pages=588–603}}{{cite book|last=Rossiter|first=Clinton |author-link=Clinton Rossiter |title=Seedtime of the Republic: the origin of the American tradition of political liberty|url=https://archive.org/details/seedtimeofrepubl0000ross|url-access=registration|year=1953|publisher=Harcourt, Brace|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/seedtimeofrepubl0000ross/page/141 141]| quote= No one can spend any time the newspapers, library inventories, and pamphlets of colonial America without realizing that Cato's Letters rather than John Locke's Civil Government was the most popular, quotable, esteemed source for political ideas in the colonial period.}}

In 1981, Murray Rothbard was removed from the Cato Institute by the board.{{cite web |title=The Kochtopus vs. Murray N. Rothbard by David Gordon |url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon37.html |website= |date=5 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305214553/https://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon37.html |archive-date=5 March 2012 |url-status=dead}} That same year, Cato relocated to Washington, D.C., settling initially in a historic house on Capitol Hill. The institute moved to its current location on Massachusetts Avenue in 1993.{{Cite news |title=About The Cato Institute |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/events/venues/120789 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

In 2009, Cato Institute was ranked the fifth-ranked think tank in the world in a study of think tanks by James G. McGann, at the University of Pennsylvania, based on a criterion of excellence in "producing rigorous and relevant research, publications and programs in one or more substantive areas of research".{{cite web|url=http://www.sas.upenn.edu/irp/documents/2009GlobalGoToReportThinkTankIndex_1.31.2010.02.01.pdf |title=The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program 2009 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=November 20, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607150006/http://www.sas.upenn.edu/irp/documents/2009GlobalGoToReportThinkTankIndex_1.31.2010.02.01.pdf |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |df=mdy }}

The Cato Institute had a budget of $23 million in 2012.{{cn|date=March 2025}} In 2015, Cato's revenue exceeded $37 million, and the organization had 124 employees on staff.{{Cite web |title=Rise of the Cato Institute |url=https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/rise-of-the-cato-institute/ |access-date=2024-10-30 |website=Philanthropy Roundtable |language=en-US}} In 2024, its revenue was reported at more than $71 million.{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon |date=2013-05-09 |title=Cato Institute - Nonprofit Explorer |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237432162 |access-date=2024-10-30 |website=ProPublica |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results |url=https://www.cato.org/cato-institute-2023-annual-report/financial-results |access-date=2024-10-30 |website=www.cato.org}}

Various Cato Institute programs were favorably ranked in a survey on think tanks published by the University of Pennsylvania in 2012.

The Cato Institute publishes policy studies, briefing papers, periodicals, and books. Journals and periodicals include Cato Journal{{ISSN|0273-3072}}{{cite web | url=https://www.ebscohost.com/titleLists/a9h-journals.pdf | title=Academic Search Complete | website=EBSCO | access-date=5 February 2020 | archive-date=October 10, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010063748/https://www.ebscohost.com/titleLists/a9h-journals.pdf | url-status=live }}[http://www.proquest.com/tls/jsp/list/ListHTML.jsp?start=1000&productID=770&productName=ProQuest+5000+International&IDString=343+422+182+180+181+8+224+347+567+348+445+223+602+604+350&format=formatHTML&all=all ProQuest Database: ProQuest 5000 International] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126141851/http://www.proquest.com/tls/jsp/list/ListHTML.jsp?start=1000&productID=770&productName=ProQuest+5000+International&IDString=343+422+182+180+181+8+224+347+567+348+445+223+602+604+350&format=formatHTML&all=all |date=November 26, 2009 }}, ProQuest

(since 1981), Regulation magazine (acquired in 1990),{{ISSN|0147-0590}}{{cite web | url=https://www.ebscohost.com/titleLists/bth-journals.pdf | title=Business Source Complete | website=EBSCO | access-date=5 February 2020 | archive-date=October 10, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010063337/https://www.ebscohost.com/titleLists/bth-journals.pdf | url-status=live }}[http://www.proquest.com/tls/jsp/list/ListHTML.jsp?start=9000&productID=770&productName=ProQuest+5000+International&IDString=343+422+182+180+181+8+224+347+567+348+445+223+602+604+350&format=formatHTML&all=all ProQuest Database: ProQuest 5000 International] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126134407/http://www.proquest.com/tls/jsp/list/ListHTML.jsp?start=9000&productID=770&productName=ProQuest+5000+International&IDString=343+422+182+180+181+8+224+347+567+348+445+223+602+604+350&format=formatHTML&all=all |date=November 26, 2009 }}, ProQuest Cato's Letter,{{OCLC|464445035|51687065}} Cato Supreme Court Review,{{ISSN|1936-0398}} Cato Policy Report,{{ISSN|0743-605X}} Cato published Inquiry Magazine from 1977 to 1982 (before transferring it to the Libertarian Review Foundation){{ISSN|0148-5008}}; {{OCLC|3456688}} Literature of Liberty (from 1978 to 1979 before transferring it to the Institute for Humane Studies, which ended its publication in 1982).{{ISSN|0161-7303}}; {{OCLC|4007467}} It also publishes Policy Analysis since 1980.{{ISSN| 1069-8124}}

Cato also co-publishes the annual Human Freedom Index{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index/2020|title=Human Freedom Index|work=cato.org|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624230632/https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index/2020|url-status=live}} with the Fraser Institute, and is the co-publisher with Fraser of the U.S. edition of the Economic Freedom of the World annual report.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/search/category/economic-freedom-world|title=Economic Freedom of the World|work=cato.org|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624230630/https://www.cato.org/search/category/economic-freedom-world|url-status=live}}

• Social Security: The Inherent Contradiction (Peter J. Ferrara, 1980, Cato's first book and the first case for privatization)
• Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (Jonathan Rauch, 1993, a Cato co-pub with University of Chicago Press)
• Patient Power: Solving America's Health Care Crisis (John C. Goodman and Gerald L. Musgrave, 1994)
• Cato Handbook for Congress (1995, the first in a series that eventually became the Cato Handbook for Policymakers)
• Cato Pocket Constitution (2002)
• In Defense of Global Capitalism (Johan Norberg, 2003)
• The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet (Indur Goklany, 2007)
• The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power (Gene Healy, 2008)
• The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey into How the World's Poorest People are Educating Themselves (James Tooley, 2009, winner of the Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award)
• The Tyranny of Silence (Flemming Rose, 2014)
• The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty (Timothy Sandefur, 2013)
• The Fire Next Door: Mexico's Drug Violence and the Danger to America (Ted Galen Carpenter, 2016)
• Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care (Charles Silver and David A. Hyman, 2018)
• Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know (Marian Tupy and Ronald Bailey, 2020)
• School Choice Myths: Setting the Record Straight on Education Freedom (Neal McCluskey and Corey A. DeAngelis, 2020)
• Economics in One Virus (Ryan Bourne, 2021)
• The Most Common Arguments against Immigration and Why They’re Wrong (Alex Nowrasteh, 2021)
• Eyes to the Sky: Privacy and Commerce in the Age of the Drone (Matthew Feeney, 2021)
• Why, as a Muslim, I Defend Liberty (Mustafa Akyol, 2021)

• Restoring the Lost Constitution (Randy Barnett, 2003)
• The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism (2008, Ronald Hamowy)
• Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty (Mustafa Akyol, 2011)
• The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure (John A. Allison, 2012)
• The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom (David Boaz, 2015, previously Libertarianism: A Primer)
• The Libertarian Reader (Edited by David Boaz, 2015)
• The Radio Right (Paul Matzko, 2020)
• Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces (Radley Balko, 2013)
• Open: The Story of Human Progress (Johan Norberg, 2020)

• The Cato Daily Podcast,{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+cato-daily-podcast|title=Multimedia: Cato Daily Podcast|work=cato.org|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=March 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329104013/http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast|url-status=live}} hosted by Caleb O. Brown, allows Cato Institute scholars and other commenters to discuss relevant news and libertarian thought in a conversational, informal manner.
• Power Problems,{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+power-problems|title=Multimedia: Power Problems|work=cato.org|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624230630/https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+power-problems|url-status=live}} hosted by John Glaser, is a bi-weekly podcast offering a skeptical take on U.S. foreign policy, and discussion of today's big questions in international security with guests from across the political spectrum.
• Cato Events{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+events|title=Multimedia: Cato Events|work=cato.org|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=June 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607024922/https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+events|url-status=live}} offers listeners a chance to stay up-to-date on a wide range of essential contemporary issues through presentations by leading national authorities.
• Cato Audio{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+cato-audio/type/multimedia|title=Multimedia: Cato Audio|work=cato.org|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624230633/https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+cato-audio/type/multimedia|url-status=live}} covers important policy debates in Washington.
• Cato Out Loud,{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+cato-out-loud|title=Multimedia: Cato Out Loud|work=cato.org|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624230635/https://www.cato.org/search/category/multimedia+cato-out-loud|url-status=live}} provides the most notable of Cato's print publications in an audio format.
• Free Thoughts, hosted by Aaron Ross Powell and Trevor Burrus, is a weekly show about politics and liberty, featuring conversations with top scholars, philosophers, historians, economists, and public policy experts.
• Building Tomorrow, hosted by Paul Matzko, explores the ways technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship are creating a freer, wealthier, and more peaceful world.
• Pop & Locke, hosted by Landry Ayres and Natalie Dowzicky, explores the intersection of political ideas and pop culture.
• Portraits of Liberty investigates the lives and philosophies of thinkers throughout history who argued in favor of a freer world.
• The Pursuit, hosted by Tess Terrible, Landry Ayres, and Natalie Dowzicky, is a podcast about government action and individual liberty.
• Liberty Chronicles, hosted by Anthony Comegna, combines innovative libertarian thinking about history with specialist interviews, primary and secondary sources, and answers to listener questions.
• Excursions into Libertarian Thought, hosted by George H. Smith, explores the history of libertarian ideas.
• Classics of Liberty, hosted by Caleb O. Brown, relives classic works and speeches of classical liberals
• The Human Progress Podcast, hosted by Marian L. Tupy and Chelsea Follett, explores different aspects of progress and the challenges to progress.

In addition to maintaining its own website in English and Spanish,{{Cite web|url=https://www.elcato.org/|title=elcato.org|website=elcato.org|access-date=May 20, 2020|archive-date=May 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521092734/https://www.elcato.org/|url-status=live}} Cato maintains websites focused on particular topics:

• "Downsizing the Federal Government" contains essays on the size of the U.S. federal government and recommendations for decreasing various programs.{{cite web|url=http://www.downsizinggovernment.org|title=Downsizing the Federal Government|work=downsizinggovernment.org|access-date=December 16, 2010|archive-date=January 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105235031/https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/|url-status=live}}
• Libertarianism.org is a website focused on the theory and practice of libertarianism.{{cite web | url=https://www.libertarianism.org/ | title=Homepage of the Libertarianism | last= | first= | date= | website=Libertarianism | access-date=25 May 2021 | archive-date=May 2, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502012034/https://www.libertarianism.org/ | url-status=live }}
• Cato Unbound, a web-only publication that features a monthly open debate among four people. The conversation begins with one lead essay, followed by three response essays by separate people. After that, all four participants can write as many responses and counter-responses as they want for the duration of that month.
• PoliceMisconduct.net contains reports and stories from Cato's National Police Misconduct Reporting Project and the National Police Misconduct News Feed.{{cite web|url=http://www.policemisconduct.net/|title=PoliceMisconduct.net – The Cato Institute's National Police Misconduct Reporting Project|work=policemisconduct.net|access-date=April 28, 2013|archive-date=August 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814012012/https://www.policemisconduct.net/|url-status=live}}
• Overlawyered is a law blog on the subject of tort reform run by the author Walter Olson.
• HumanProgress.org is an interactive data web project that catalogs increases in prosperity driven by the free market.
• "Public Schooling Battle Map" illustrates different moral conflicts that result from public schooling.{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/education-fight-map|title=Public Schooling Battle Map|work=cato.org|access-date=July 31, 2017|archive-date=September 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904013146/https://www.cato.org/education-fight-map|url-status=live}}
• UnlawfulShield.com is dedicated to abolishing Qualified Immunity.{{Cite web|url=https://www.unlawfulshield.com/|title=Unlawful Shield – A Cato Institute Website Dedicated to Abolishing Qualified Immunity|website=www.unlawfulshield.com|access-date=September 30, 2019|archive-date=October 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001160930/https://www.unlawfulshield.com/|url-status=live}}
• FreedomInthe50States.org ranks states by policies that shape personal and economic freedom.{{Cite web|url=https://www.freedominthe50states.org/|title=How free is your state?|website=www.freedominthe50states.org|access-date=September 30, 2019|archive-date=January 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112111905/https://www.freedominthe50states.org/|url-status=live}}

The Cato Institute hosts conferences throughout the year. Topics include monetary policy, the U.S. Constitution, poverty and social welfare, technology and privacy, financial regulation, and civic culture.{{Cite web|last=Cato Institute|title=Events|url=https://www.cato.org/search/category/event|url-status=live|access-date=March 4, 2021|archive-date=February 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228122313/http://www.cato.org/search/category/event}}

Speakers at past Cato Institute conferences have included Federal Reserve Chairmen Alan Greenspan{{Cite web|date=2003-11-20|title=21st Annual Monetary Conference: The Future of the Euro|url=https://www.cato.org/events/21st-annual-monetary-conference-future-euro|access-date=2021-03-04|website=Cato Institute|language=en|archive-date=January 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119022139/https://www.cato.org/events/21st-annual-monetary-conference-future-euro|url-status=live}} and Ben Bernanke,{{Cite web|date=2007-11-14|title=25th Annual Monetary Conference: Monetary Arrangements in the 21st Century|url=https://www.cato.org/events/25th-annual-monetary-conference-monetary-arrangements-21st-century|access-date=2021-03-04|website=Cato Institute|language=en|archive-date=December 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225061948/https://www.cato.org/events/25th-annual-monetary-conference-monetary-arrangements-21st-century|url-status=live}} Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida,{{Cite web|date=2019-11-14|title=37th Annual Monetary Conference - Fed Policy: A Shadow Review|url=https://www.cato.org/events/37th-annual-monetary-conference|access-date=2021-03-04|website=Cato Institute|language=en|archive-date=February 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223222336/https://www.cato.org/events/37th-annual-monetary-conference|url-status=live}} International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato,{{cite news|last=Bleier|first=Karen|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-157621524.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610171000/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-157621524.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=August 18, 2013 |date=October 27, 2008|agency=Getty Images|quote=file photo taken on November 30, 2006 |title=International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato}}{{cite news|last=Wilson|first=Mark|title=Alan Greenspan Speaks About Euro in Washington|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-87542317.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610172656/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-87542317.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=August 18, 2013|date=November 20, 2003|agency=Getty Images}}{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Caleb|title=Bernanke|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A2-2bcd5464-753c-4ba9-a996-63d343e443ff.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610171013/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A2-2bcd5464-753c-4ba9-a996-63d343e443ff.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=August 18, 2013|agency=AP Images|quote=Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at the Cato Institute's annual Monetary Conference{{nbsp}}...}}{{Cite web|date=2006-11-30|title=Latin America: Between Populism and Modernity|url=https://www.cato.org/events/latin-america-between-populism-modernity|access-date=2021-03-04|website=Cato Institute|language=en|archive-date=December 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225212420/https://www.cato.org/events/latin-america-between-populism-modernity|url-status=live}} Czech Republic President Václav Klaus,{{cite news|title=President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus Delivers Remarks at the Cato Institute|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-171032374.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610175804/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-171032374.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=August 18, 2013|newspaper=Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.|date=September 19, 2009|agency=Washington Transcript Service}} and Avanti Financial Group Founder and CEO Caitlin Long.{{Cite web|date=2020-11-19|title=38th Annual Monetary Conference - Digital Currency: Risk or Promise?|url=https://www.cato.org/events/38th-annual-monetary-conference|access-date=2021-03-04|website=Cato Institute|language=en|archive-date=January 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118231728/https://www.cato.org/events/38th-annual-monetary-conference|url-status=live}}

Many Cato scholars have advocated support for civil liberties, liberal immigration policies, drug liberalization, and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and laws restricting consensual sexual activity.{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3053 |title=Government Shouldn't Police Morals – or Sexual Practices |last=Pilon |first=Roger |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=November 20, 2010 |archive-date=January 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104075350/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3053 |url-status=live }} The Cato Institute officially resists being labeled as part of the conservative movement because "'conservative' smacks of an unwillingness to change, of a desire to preserve the status quo".{{cite web | url=https://www.cato.org/mission | title=Cato's Mission | website=Cato Institute | access-date=5 February 2020 | archive-date=December 22, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222051948/https://www.cato.org/mission | url-status=live }}

Cato has strong ties to the political philosophy of classical liberalism.{{cite web | url=https://www.cato.org/policy-report/july/august-2013/new-intellectual-history-classical-liberalism | title=A New Intellectual History of Classical Liberalism | website=Cato Institute | access-date=12 March 2021 | archive-date=June 12, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612044220/https://www.cato.org/policy-report/july/august-2013/new-intellectual-history-classical-liberalism | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.cato.org/policy-report/march/april-2013/saving-soul-classical-liberalism | title=Saving the Soul of Classical Liberalism | website=Cato Institute | access-date=12 March 2021 | archive-date=June 12, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612044224/https://www.cato.org/policy-report/march/april-2013/saving-soul-classical-liberalism | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.cato.org/cato-university/home-study-course/module1 | title=Home Study Course | website=Cato Institute | access-date=12 March 2021 | archive-date=March 9, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309201415/http://www.cato.org/cato-university/home-study-course/module1 | url-status=live }} According to executive vice president David Boaz, libertarians are classical liberals who strongly emphasize the individual right to liberty. He argues that, as the term "liberalism" became increasingly associated with government intervention in the economy and social welfare programs, some classical liberals abandoned the old term and began to call themselves “libertarians”.{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/libertarianism-politics/Contemporary-libertarianism | title=Definition of Libertarianism | website=Encyclopedia Britannica | access-date=12 March 2021 | archive-date=March 5, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305191921/https://www.britannica.com/topic/libertarianism-politics/Contemporary-libertarianism | url-status=live }} Officially, Cato admits that the term “classical liberal” comes close to the mark of labeling its position, but fails to capture the contemporary vibrancy of the ideas of freedom. According to Cato's mission statement, the Jeffersonian philosophy that animates Cato's work has increasingly come to be called 'libertarianism' or 'market liberalism.' It combines an appreciation for entrepreneurship, the market process, and lower taxes with strict respect for civil liberties and skepticism about the benefits of both the welfare state and foreign military adventurism.{{cite web | url=https://www.cato.org/mission | title=Cato's Mission | website=Cato Institute | access-date=12 March 2021 | archive-date=December 22, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222051948/https://www.cato.org/mission | url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/about.php |title=Cato on "How to Label Cato" |access-date=February 29, 2008 |work=The Cato Institute |publisher=Cato Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822132227/http://www.cato.org/about/about.html |archive-date=August 22, 2007 }}

In 2006, Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos proposed the term "Libertarian Democrat" to describe his particular liberal position, suggesting that libertarians should be allies of the Democratic Party. Replying, Cato's vice president for research Brink Lindsey agreed that libertarians and liberals should view each other as natural ideological allies,{{cite web | url=https://www.cato.org/people/brink-lindsey | title=Brink Lindsey | website=Cato Institute | access-date=6 February 2020 | archive-date=February 6, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206152432/https://www.cato.org/people/brink-lindsey | url-status=live }} and noted continuing differences between mainstream liberal views on economic policy and Cato's "Jeffersonian philosophy".

Some Cato scholars disagree with conservatives on neo-conservative foreign policy, albeit that this has not always been uniform.{{cite web|last=Lindsey|first=Brink|title=Should We Invade Iraq?|url=http://reason.com/archives/2003/01/01/should-we-invade-iraq|work=Reason Magazine (January 2003)|publisher=Reason Magazine|access-date=July 5, 2012|date=January 2003|archive-date=April 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407010559/http://reason.com/archives/2003/01/01/should-we-invade-iraq|url-status=live}}{{Failed verification|date=July 2020}}

File:John A. Allison IV of the Cato Institute.jpg, former president of the Cato Institute from 2012 to 2015, speaking at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference (ISFLC)]]

{{Further|Objectivism and libertarianism}}

The relationship between Cato and the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) improved with the nomination of Cato's new president John A. Allison IV in 2012. He is a former ARI board member and is reported to be an "ardent devotee" of Rand who has promoted reading her books to colleges nationwide.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-kochs-v-cato-winners-and-losers | title=The Kochs v. Cato: Winners and Losers | last=Mayer | first=Jane | magazine=The New Yorker | access-date=6 February 2020 | archive-date=August 15, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815173539/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-kochs-v-cato-winners-and-losers | url-status=live }} In March 2015, Allison retired as president, remaining on the board; he was succeeded by Peter Goettler.{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/peter-goettler-named-new-head-of-libertarian-think-tank-cato-institute/article/2562254|title=Peter Goettler named new head of libertarian think tank Cato Institute|work=washingtonexaminer.com|date=March 30, 2015|access-date=February 17, 2016|archive-date=October 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022115023/http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/peter-goettler-named-new-head-of-libertarian-think-tank-cato-institute/article/2562254|url-status=live}}

The Cato Institute advocates policies that advance "individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace". They are libertarian in their policy positions, typically advocating diminished government intervention in domestic, social, and economic policies and decreased military and political intervention worldwide. Cato was cited by columnist Ezra Klein as nonpartisan, saying that it is "the foremost advocate for small-government principles in American life" and it "advocates those principles when Democrats are in power, and when Republicans are in power";{{cite news|last=Klein|first=Ezra|title=Why Do the Kochs Want to Kill the Cato Institute?|publisher=Bloomberg L.P.|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-08/why-do-the-kochs-want-to-kill-the-cato-institute-ezra-klein.html|date=March 7, 2012|access-date=July 12, 2012|archive-date=July 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710132132/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-08/why-do-the-kochs-want-to-kill-the-cato-institute-ezra-klein.html|url-status=live}} and Eric Lichtblau called Cato "one of the country's most widely cited research organizations." Nina Eastman reported in 1995 that "on any given day, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas might be visiting for lunch. Or Cato staffers might be plotting strategy with House Majority Leader Dick Armey, another Texan, and his staff."{{cite news|last=Easton|first=Nina J.|title=Making America Work : RED WHITE AND SMALL : Ed Crane's Cato Institute Is a Think Tank That Believes the Country Would Work Better if There Was Less Government|publisher=Los Angeles Times.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-09-tm-21827-story.html|date=July 9, 1995|access-date=November 9, 2017|archive-date=March 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310135755/http://articles.latimes.com/print/1995-07-09/magazine/tm-21827_1_ed-crane|url-status=live}}

Cato's non-interventionist foreign policy views, and strong support for civil liberties, have frequently led Cato scholars to criticize those in power, both Republican and Democratic. Cato scholars opposed President George H. W. Bush's 1991 Gulf War operations (a position which caused the organization to lose nearly $1 million in funding),{{cite book |last=Doherty |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Doherty (journalist) |title=Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement |publisher=PublicAffairs |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58648-350-0 |location=New York |pages=741 |oclc=76141517}}{{rp|page=454}} President Bill Clinton's interventions in Haiti and Kosovo, President George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq, and President Barack Obama's 2011 military intervention in Libya. As a response to the September 11 attacks, Cato scholars supported the removal of al Qaeda and the Taliban regime from power, but are against an indefinite and open-ended military occupation of Afghanistan.{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10533 |title=Escaping the 'Graveyard of Empires': A Strategy to Exit Afghanistan |author=Malou Innocent and Ted Galen Carpenter |date=September 14, 2009 |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=November 20, 2010 |archive-date=November 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122023141/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10533 |url-status=live }} Cato scholars criticized U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.{{cite web | url=https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/gops-foreign-policy-goes-bad-ugly-marco-rubio-pushes-intervention-fun-profit | title=GOP's Foreign Policy Goes from Bad to Ugly as Marco Rubio Pushes Intervention for Fun and Profit | last=Bandow | first=Doug | date=12 August 2015 | website=Cato Institute | access-date=6 February 2020 | archive-date=November 7, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107061139/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/gops-foreign-policy-goes-bad-ugly-marco-rubio-pushes-intervention-fun-profit | url-status=live }}

Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato's vice president for defense and foreign policy studies, criticized many of the arguments offered to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. One of the war's earliest critics, Carpenter wrote in January 2002: "Ousting Saddam would make Washington responsible for Iraq's political future and entangle the United States in an endless nation-building mission beset by intractable problems."{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3369 |title=Overthrow Saddam? Be Careful What You Wish For |first=Ted Galen |last=Carpenter |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=November 20, 2010 |archive-date=January 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114121203/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3369 |url-status=live }} Carpenter also predicted: "Most notably there is the issue posed by two persistent regional secession movements: the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south." But in 2002 Carpenter wrote, "the United States should not shrink from confronting al-Qaeda in its Pakistani lair,"{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/dailys/03-28-02.html|title=Take the War on Terrorism to Pakistan|first=Ted Galen|last=Carpenter|publisher=Cato Institute|access-date=November 9, 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020601233726/http://www.cato.org/dailys/03-28-02.html|archive-date=June 1, 2002|df=mdy-all}} a position echoed in the institute's policy recommendations for the 108th Congress.{{cite web |url=http://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/hb108-51.pdf |title=Waging an Effective War |first=Charles V. |last=Peña |work=Cato Handbook for Congress: Policy Recommendations for the 108th Congress |page=53 |access-date=November 9, 2017 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412122938/https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/hb108-51.pdf |url-status=live }} Cato's director of foreign policy studies, Christopher Preble, argues in The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free, that America's position as an unrivaled superpower tempts policymakers to constantly overreach and to redefine ever more broadly the "national interest".{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/01/AR2009050101830.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=The Big Idea – The Power Problem | first=Carlos | last=Lozada | date=May 3, 2009 | access-date=April 28, 2010 | archive-date=November 11, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111122752/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/01/AR2009050101830.html | url-status=live }}

Christopher Preble has said that the "scare campaign" to protect military spending from cuts under the Budget Control Act of 2011 has backfired.{{cite web|url=http://breakingdefense.com/2012/12/defense-execs-say-deeper-dod-budget-cuts-higher-taxes-ok/|title=Defense Execs Say Deeper DoD Budget Cuts, Higher Taxes OK|work=breakingdefense.com|date=December 3, 2012|access-date=September 6, 2016|archive-date=October 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011105750/http://breakingdefense.com/2012/12/defense-execs-say-deeper-dod-budget-cuts-higher-taxes-ok/|url-status=live}}

Cato's foreign and defense policies are guided by the view that the United States is relatively secure and so should engage the world, trade freely, and work with other countries on common concerns—but avoid trying to dominate it militarily. As a result, Cato advocates the United States should be an example of democracy and human rights, not their armed vindicator abroad, claiming it has a rich history, from George Washington to Cold War realists like George Kennan. Cato scholars aim to restore this view, with a principled and restrained foreign policy recommendation, to keep the nation out of most foreign conflicts and be cheaper, more ethical, and less destructive of civil liberties.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy|title=Cato on Defense and Foreign Policy at a Glance|work=cato.org|access-date=October 13, 2021}}{{Third-party inline|date=July 2024}}

Cato scholars have consistently called for the privatization of many government services and institutions,{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/privatize-almost-everything|title=Privatize Almost Everything|date=April 30, 2013|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=February 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222122014/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/privatize-almost-everything|url-status=live}} including NASA,{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/time-privatize-nasa|title=Time to Privatize NASA|date=January 26, 1998|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=November 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123053940/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/time-privatize-nasa|url-status=live}} Social Security,{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/social-security-choice-paper/privatizing-social-security-big-boost-poor|title=Privatizing Social Security: A Big Boost for the Poor|date=July 26, 1996|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=November 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120031741/https://www.cato.org/publications/social-security-choice-paper/privatizing-social-security-big-boost-poor|url-status=live}} the United States Postal Service,{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/congressional-testimony/postal-service-privatization|title=Postal Service Privatization|date=April 30, 1996|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=February 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222171553/http://www.cato.org/publications/congressional-testimony/postal-service-privatization|url-status=live}} the Transportation Security Administration,{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/blog/after-another-failure-time-privatize-tsa|title=After Another Failure, Time to Privatize TSA|date=June 2, 2015|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107060430/https://www.cato.org/blog/after-another-failure-time-privatize-tsa|url-status=live}} public schooling, public transportation systems,{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/fixing-transit-case-privatization|title=Fixing Transit: The Case for Privatization|date=November 10, 2010|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=December 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209141747/https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/fixing-transit-case-privatization|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/privatize-faa|title=Privatize the FAA!|date=April 24, 2013|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=August 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802143452/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/privatize-faa|url-status=live}} and public broadcasting.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/top-ten-reasons-privatize-public-broadcasting|title=Top Ten Reasons to Privatize Public Broadcasting|date=July 25, 2005|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=November 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105191142/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/top-ten-reasons-privatize-public-broadcasting|url-status=live}} The institute opposes minimum wage laws, saying that they violate the freedom of contract and thus private property rights, and increase unemployment.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/minimum-wage-cruelest-those-who-cant-find-job|title=The Minimum Wage Is Cruelest to Those Who Can't Find a Job|date=July 22, 2013|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=February 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160212055146/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/minimum-wage-cruelest-those-who-cant-find-job|url-status=live}}William Niskanen, [http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2006/06/14/house-faces-the-dumbest-bill-of-the-year-so-far-a-210-increase-in-the-minimum-wage/ "House Faces the Dumbest Bill of the Year (So Far): A $2.10 Increase in the Minimum Wage"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031065456/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2006/06/14/house-faces-the-dumbest-bill-of-the-year-so-far-a-210-increase-in-the-minimum-wage/ |date=October 31, 2007 }}, Cato@Liberty, June 14, 2006

The institute is opposed to expanding overtime regulations, arguing that it will benefit some employees in the short term, while costing jobs or lowering wages of others, and have no meaningful long-term impact.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/blog/overtime-regulation-feel-good-economics|title=Overtime Regulation|date=July 2, 2015|work=cato.org|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=March 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331074710/http://www.cato.org/blog/overtime-regulation-feel-good-economics|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/blog/obamas-overtime-edict-anything-free-lunch|title=Obama's Overtime Edict: Anything But a Free Lunch|date=March 13, 2014|work=cato.org|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=February 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223093241/http://www.cato.org/blog/obamas-overtime-edict-anything-free-lunch|url-status=live}} It opposes child labor prohibitions,{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/economic-development-bulletin/case-against-child-labor-prohibitions|title=A Case against Child Labor Prohibitions|date=July 29, 2014|work=cato.org|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=February 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160211213812/http://www.cato.org/publications/economic-development-bulletin/case-against-child-labor-prohibitions|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/child-labor-or-child-prostitution|title=Child Labor or Child Prostitution?|date=October 8, 2002|work=cato.org|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=February 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208180420/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/child-labor-or-child-prostitution|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/blog/bans-child-labor|title=Bans on Child Labor|date=November 18, 2013|work=cato.org|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=February 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223041018/http://www.cato.org/blog/bans-child-labor|url-status=live}} opposes public sector unions, and supports right-to-work laws.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/blog/labor-unions-against-public-interest|title=Labor Unions Against the Public Interest|date=July 2, 2013|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=February 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222155948/http://www.cato.org/blog/labor-unions-against-public-interest|url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Vedder |first1=Richard |title=171 Right-to-Work Laws: Liberty, Prosperity, and Quality of Life |url=https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2010/1/cj30n1-9.pdf |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=9 March 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412122943/https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2010/1/cj30n1-9.pdf |url-status=live }} It opposes universal health care, arguing that it is harmful to patients and an intrusion onto individual liberty.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/research/universal-health-care|title=Universal Health Care|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=December 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209031905/https://www.cato.org/research/universal-health-care|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/universal-health-care-not-best-option|title=Universal Health Care Not Best Option|date=February 23, 2009|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225151858/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/universal-health-care-not-best-option|url-status=live}} It is against affirmative action.{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3722 |title=The Affirmative Action Myth |first=Marie |last=Gryphon |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=November 20, 2010 |archive-date=November 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123173511/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3722 |url-status=live }} It has also called for total abolition of the welfare state, and has argued that it should be replaced with reduced business regulations to create more jobs, and argues that private charities are fully capable of replacing it.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/blog/welfare-private-charity|title=Welfare and Private Charity|date=April 13, 2012|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=February 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222171717/http://www.cato.org/blog/welfare-private-charity|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/welfare-state-needs-abolition-not-reform|title=The Welfare State Needs Abolition, Not "Reform"|date=May 5, 2015|work=cato.org|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=February 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222171605/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/welfare-state-needs-abolition-not-reform|url-status=live}} Cato has also opposed antitrust laws.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/case-against-antitrust|title=The Case Against Antitrust|date=November 17, 2004|work=cato.org|access-date=May 16, 2016|archive-date=December 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229080357/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/case-against-antitrust|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/its-time-reexamine-antitrust-legislation|title=It's Time To Reexamine Antitrust Legislation|date=November 13, 1997|work=cato.org|access-date=May 16, 2016|archive-date=September 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924140508/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/its-time-reexamine-antitrust-legislation|url-status=live}}

Cato is an opponent of campaign finance reform, arguing that government is the ultimate form of potential corruption and that such laws undermine democracy by undermining competitive elections. Cato also supports the repeal of the Federal Election Campaign Act.{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/why-campaign-finance-reform-never-works|title=Why Campaign Finance Reform Never Works|date=March 20, 1997|work=cato.org|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=October 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007235145/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/why-campaign-finance-reform-never-works|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/research/campaign-finance|title=Campaign Finance|work=cato.org|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210194023/https://www.cato.org/research/campaign-finance|url-status=live}}

Cato is a fierce foe of the war on drugs, arguing that consenting adults have the right to put any substance they wish to in their bodies and that drug prohibition drives mass incarceration while fueling violent competition between gangs and failing to prevent drug abuse.{{Cite web |last=Burrus |first=Trevor |title=The War on Drugs |url=https://www.cato.org/cato-handbook-policymakers/cato-handbook-policymakers-9th-edition-2022/war-drugs |access-date=August 28, 2024 |website=Cato Institute}}

Cato has published numerous studies criticizing what it calls "corporate welfare", the practice of public officials funneling taxpayer money, usually via targeted budgetary spending, to politically connected corporate interests.James Bovard, [http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-241.html "Archer Daniels Midland: A Case Study In Corporate Welfare"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711092430/http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-241.html|date=July 11, 2007}}, Policy Analysis no. 241, September 26, 1995{{cite web |last1=Moore |first1=Stephen |last2=Stansel |first2=Dean |date=12 May 1995 |title=Ending Corporate Welfare as We Know It |url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa225.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023114508/http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa225.html |archive-date=October 23, 2016 |access-date=25 May 2021 |website=Cato Institute}}{{cite web |last=Slivinski |first=Stephen |date=10 October 2001 |title=The Corporate Welfare Budget: Bigger Than Ever |url=https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/corporate-welfare-budget-bigger-ever |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525135912/https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/corporate-welfare-budget-bigger-ever |archive-date=May 25, 2021 |access-date=25 May 2021 |website=Cato Institute}}{{cite web |last=Slivinski |first=Stephen |date=14 May 2007 |title=The Corporate Welfare State: How the Federal Government Subsidizes U.S. Businesses |url=https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/corporate-welfare-state-how-federal-government-subsidizes-us-businesses |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525135913/https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/corporate-welfare-state-how-federal-government-subsidizes-us-businesses |archive-date=May 25, 2021 |access-date=25 May 2021 |website=Cato Institute}}

Cato has published strong criticisms of the 1998 settlement which many U.S. states signed with the tobacco industry.Thomas C. O'Brien, [http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-371es.html "Constitutional and Antitrust Violations of the Multistate Tobacco Settlement"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031203065542/http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-371es.html |date=December 3, 2003 }}, Policy Analysis no. 371, Cato Institute, May 18, 2000

Cato president Ed Crane and Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope co-wrote a 2002 op-ed piece in The Washington Post calling for the abandonment of the Republican energy bill, arguing that it had become little more than a gravy train for Washington, D.C., lobbyists.{{cite news |last=Pope |first=Carl |author2=Crane, Ed |date=July 30, 2002 |title=Fueled by Pork |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/409300838 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317104245/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/doc/409300838.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jul+30,+2002&author=Carl+Pope+and+Ed+Crane&desc=Fueled+by+Pork |archive-date=March 17, 2017 |access-date=August 21, 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=A.17|id={{ProQuest|409300838}} }}{{Subscription required}}. [http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4090 Cato's link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116112152/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4090|date=November 16, 2007}} Again in 2005, Cato scholar Jerry Taylor teamed up with Daniel Becker of the Sierra Club to attack the Republican Energy Bill as a give-away to corporate interests.{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Jerry |last2=Becker |first2=Daniel |date=30 July 2005 |title=Energy Bill Blues |url=https://www.cato.org/commentary/energy-bill-blues |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525135912/https://www.cato.org/commentary/energy-bill-blues |archive-date=May 25, 2021 |access-date=25 May 2021 |website=Cato Institute}}

In 2003, Cato filed an amicus brief in support of the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the remaining state laws that made private, non-commercial homosexual relations between consenting adults illegal. Cato cited the 14th Amendment, among other things, as the source of their support for the ruling. The amicus brief was cited in Justice Kennedy's majority opinion for the Court.{{cite web |title=539 U.S. 558 LAWRENCE et al. v. TEXAS No. 02-102. Supreme Court of United |url=http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/539/539.US.558.02-102.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031091144/http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/539/539.US.558.02-102.html |archive-date=October 31, 2010 |access-date=November 20, 2010 |publisher=bulk.resource.org |df=mdy-all}}

In 2004, Cato scholar Daniel Griswold wrote in support of President George W. Bush's failed proposal to grant temporary work visas to otherwise undocumented laborers which would have granted limited residency for the purpose of employment in the U.S.

In 2004, the institute published a paper arguing in favor of "drug reimportation".{{cite web |last=Pilon |first=Roger |date=4 August 2004 |title=Drug Reimportation: The Free Market Solution |url=https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/drug-reimportation-free-market-solution-0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525134921/https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/drug-reimportation-free-market-solution-0 |archive-date=May 25, 2021 |access-date=25 May 2021 |website=Cato Institute}}

In 2006, the Cato Institute published a study proposing a Balanced Budget Veto Amendment to the United States Constitution.Anthony Hawks, [http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=1346 "The Balanced Budget Veto: A New Mechanism to Limit Federal Spending"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622192900/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=1346 |date=June 22, 2006 }}, Policy Analysis no. 487, Cato Institute, September 4, 2003

In 2006, Cato published a Policy Analysis criticising the Federal Marriage Amendment as unnecessary, anti-federalist, and anti-democratic.{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6379 |title=The Federal Marriage Amendment: Unnecessary, Anti-Federalist, and Anti-Democratic |first=Dale |last=Carpenter |date=June 1, 2006 |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=November 20, 2010 |archive-date=November 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122182237/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6379 |url-status=live }} The amendment would have changed the United States Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage; the amendment failed in both houses of Congress.

A 2006 Cato report by Radley Balko strongly criticized U.S. drug policy and the perceived growing militarization of U.S. law enforcement.{{cite web |first=Radley |last=Balko |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476 |title=Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America |publisher=Cato Institute |date=July 17, 2006 |access-date=September 28, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409110428/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476 |archive-date=April 9, 2010 |url-status=dead }}

A 2006 study criticized the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.Gigi Sohn, [http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/166 "A Welcome Voice on the Right"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070511001717/http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/166|date=May 11, 2007}}, Public Knowledge, March 21, 2006

Cato supports same-sex marriage and filed an amicus brief in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges supporting a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.{{Cite web |last1=Shapiro |first1=Ilya |last2=Pilon |first2=Roger |last3=Eskridge |first3=William |last4=Burrus |first4=Trevor |date=March 6, 2015 |title=Obergefell v. Hodges |url=https://www.cato.org/legal-briefs/obergefell-v-hodges |access-date=Aug 28, 2024 |website=Cato Institute}}

Cato does not formally oppose capital punishment; however, they have frequently criticized the practice.{{Cite web |last=Follett |first=Chelsea |date=July 29, 2019 |title=Despite Federal Return, Capital Punishment Is Dying Out |url=https://www.cato.org/blog/despite-federal-return-capital-punishment-dying-out |access-date=Aug 28, 2024 |website=Cato Institute}}{{Cite web |last=Meany |first=Paul |date=January 15, 2020 |title=Cesare Beccaria was a trailblazer on capital punishment |url=https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/cesare-beccaria-trail-blazer-capital-punishment |access-date=Aug 28, 2024 |website=Libertarianism.org}}

Cato scholars have written about the issues of the environment, including global warming, environmental regulation, and energy policy. According to social scientists Riley Dunlap and Aaron McCright the Cato Institute is one of the "particularly crucial elements of the denial machine", that rejects global warming.Riley E. Dunlap, Aaron M. McCright: [https://books.google.com/books?id=RsYr_iQUs6QC&dq=cato+institute+denial&pg=PA144 Organized Climate Change Denial], in: John S. Dryzek, Richard B. Norgaard, David Schlosberg (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press 2011, p. 144–160, here p. 149

PolitiFact.com and Scientific American have called Cato's work on global warming "false" and based on "data selection".{{cite web | url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/apr/01/cato-institute/cato-institutes-claim-global-warming-disputed-most/ | title=Cato Institutes claim on global warming disputed by most experts | last=Farley | first=Robert | date=1 April 2009 | website=Politifact | access-date=6 February 2020 | archive-date=February 6, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206154411/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/apr/01/cato-institute/cato-institutes-claim-global-warming-disputed-most/ | url-status=live }}Cato was criticized for publishing an alleged misleading Addendum: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. See: {{cite journal|last=Fischer|first=Douglas|author2=The Daily Climate|title=Fake Addendum by Contrarian Group Tries to Undo U.S. Government Climate Report|journal=Scientific American|date=October 22, 2012|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fake-addendum-by-contrari/|access-date=February 5, 2018|archive-date=March 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306142529/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fake-addendum-by-contrari/|url-status=live}} A December 2003 Cato panel included Patrick Michaels, Robert Balling and John Christy.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} Michaels, Balling and Christy agreed that global warming is related at least some degree to human activity but that many scientists and the media have overstated the danger.{{Cite web |title=Patrick Michaels: Decades of Denial – Climate Investigations Center |url=https://climateinvestigations.org/patrick-michaels/ |access-date=2022-12-23 |website=climateinvestigations.org}}{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} The Cato Institute has also criticized political attempts to stop global warming as expensive and ineffective.

Cato scholars have been critical of the Bush administration's views on energy policy. In 2003, Cato scholars Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren said the Republican Energy Bill was "hundreds of pages of corporate welfare, symbolic gestures, empty promises, and pork-barrel projects".{{cite magazine |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/taylor-vandoren200311190857.asp |title=Mighty Porking Power Rangers: Scanning the energy bill |first=Jerry |last=Taylor |author2=Peter Van Doren |magazine=National Review Online |date=November 19, 2003 |access-date=May 27, 2008 |archive-date=November 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112000604/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/taylor-vandoren200311190857.asp |url-status=live }} They also spoke out against the former president's calls for larger ethanol subsidies.{{cite news |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=7308 |title=Ethanol Makes Gasoline Costlier, Dirtier |first=Jerry |last=Taylor |author2=Peter Van Doren |date=January 27, 2007 |access-date=January 31, 2008 |archive-date=February 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213153039/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=7308 |url-status=live }}

With regard to the "Takings Clause" of the United States Constitution and environmental protection, libertarians associated with Cato contended in 2003 that the Constitution is not adequate to guarantee the protection of private property rights.{{cite book|last=Ball|first=Terence|title=Environmental Encyclopedia|year=2003|publisher=Gale|chapter-url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3404801486.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402151435/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3404801486.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 2, 2015|access-date=August 18, 2013 |chapter=Takings}}

In 2019, Cato closed its "Center for the Study of Science", which E&E News characterized as "a program that for years sought to raise uncertainty about climate science" after its head Pat Michaels had left the institute over disagreements, along with his collaborator Ryan Maue, a meteorologist.{{Cite web|last=Waldman|first=Scott|date=2020-05-29|title=Cato closes its climate shop; Pat Michaels is out|url=https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060419123|access-date=2020-07-28|website=E&E News|language=en|archive-date=August 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815174415/https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060419123|url-status=live}} By that time, the Cato Institute was also no longer affiliated with its former distinguished fellow Richard Lindzen, another denier of the scientific consensus on climate change.

Cato's scholars seek to advance policies and support institutions in developing and developed countries that protect human rights and extend the range of personal choices. In particular, Cato's research explores the central role that freedom in its various dimensions—economic, civil, and personal—plays in human progress and in solving some of the world's most pressing problems, including global poverty. To this end Cato co-publishes the annual Human Freedom Index (2015–) with the Fraser Institute and is the co-publisher with Fraser of the U.S. edition of the Economic Freedom of the World annual report (1996–).

Cato argues that most Americans are immigrants or descended from immigrants who sought opportunity and freedom on American shores, and they believe that this continues today with immigrants continuing to become Americans, making the United States a wealthier, freer, and safer country. Cato's research indicates that the current US immigration system excludes the most peaceful and healthy immigrants, and urges policymakers to expand and deregulate legal immigration.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/immigration|title=Cato on Immigration|work=cato.org|access-date=October 13, 2021}} Further, Cato supports open borders.{{cite web|title=Forget the Wall Already, It's Time for the U.S. to Have Open Borders|url=https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/forget-wall-already-its-time-us-have-open-borders}}

Cato scholars were critical of George W. Bush's Republican administration (2001–2009) on several issues, including education,{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/store/books/feds-classroom-how-big-government-corrupts-cripples-compromises-american-education-paperback |title=Feds in the Classroom |first=Neal |last=McCluskey |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=December 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121211064446/http://www.cato.org/store/books/feds-classroom-how-big-government-corrupts-cripples-compromises-american-education-paperback |archive-date=December 11, 2012 |url-status=dead }} and excessive government spending.{{cite web |url=http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/ |title=Downsizing the Federal Government |access-date=December 16, 2010 |archive-date=January 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105235031/https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/ |url-status=live }} On other issues, they supported Bush administration initiatives, most notably health care,{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa650.pdf |title=Yes, Mr. President, A Free Market Can Fix Health Care |first=Michael F |last=Cannon |date=October 21, 2009 |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=November 20, 2010 |archive-date=November 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115233552/http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa650.pdf |url-status=live }} Social Security,{{cite news |first=Mike |last=Allen |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29418-2005Jan22.html |title=Semantics Shape Social Security Debate: Democrats Assail 'Crisis' While GOP Gives 'Privatization' a 'Personal' Twist |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 23, 2005 |page=A04 |access-date=August 25, 2017 |archive-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107165701/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29418-2005Jan22.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=2943 |title=Cutting Corporate Welfare Could Fund a Bush Social Security Plan |first1=Andrew |last1=Biggs |first2=Maya |last2=Macguineas |publisher=CATO Institute |date=January 6, 2003 |access-date=October 25, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117060325/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=2943 |archive-date=November 17, 2007 |url-status=dead }} global warming,{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/hb108/hb108-45.pdf |title=Global Warming |first=Patrick J |last=Michaels |work=Cato Handbook for Congress: Policy Recommendations for the 108th Congress |page=474 |access-date=July 4, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406104546/http://www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/hb108/hb108-45.pdf |archive-date=April 6, 2012 |df=mdy-all }} tax policy,{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/publications/briefing-paper/show-me-money-dividend-payouts-after-bush-tax-cut |title=Show Me the Money! Dividend Payouts after the Bush Tax Cut |first1=Stephen |last1=Moore |first2=Phil |last2=Kerpen |publisher=Cato Institute |date=October 12, 2004 |access-date=July 4, 2012 |archive-date=June 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609100742/http://www.cato.org/publications/briefing-paper/show-me-money-dividend-payouts-after-bush-tax-cut |url-status=live }} and immigration.{{cite web |first=Daniel |last=Griswold |url=http://reason.com/archives/2004/12/03/beyond-the-barbed-wire |title=Beyond the Barbed Wire: Bush won a mandate for immigration reform |publisher=Reason.com |date=December 3, 2004 |access-date=August 21, 2013 |archive-date=January 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117175821/http://reason.com/archives/2004/12/03/beyond-the-barbed-wire |url-status=live }} [http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/immigration-beyond-barbed-wire Cato's link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609100528/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/immigration-beyond-barbed-wire |date=June 9, 2012 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/america-needs-real-immigration-reform |title=America Needs Real Immigration Reform |first=Daniel |last=Griswold |publisher=Cato Institute |date=May 18, 2006 |access-date=July 4, 2012 |archive-date=June 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609100758/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/america-needs-real-immigration-reform |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/illegal-immigration-will-congress-finally-solve-it |title=Illegal Immigration: Will Congress Finally Solve It? |first=Daniel |last=Griswold |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=July 4, 2012 |date=May 22, 2007 |archive-date=June 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609100807/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/illegal-immigration-will-congress-finally-solve-it |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/immigration-reform-must-include-temporary-worker-program |title=Immigration Reform Must Include a Temporary Worker Program |first=Daniel |last=Griswold |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=July 4, 2012 |date=March 17, 2007 |archive-date=June 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609100834/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/immigration-reform-must-include-temporary-worker-program |url-status=live }}

During the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Cato scholars criticized both major-party candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama.{{cite journal |last=Samples |first=John |title=McCain vs. Madison |journal=The American Spectator |date=January 15, 2008 |url=http://spectator.org/archives/2008/01/15/mccain-vs-madison |access-date=August 20, 2013 |publisher=The American Spectator Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728044537/http://spectator.org/archives/2008/01/15/mccain-vs-madison |archive-date=July 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} [http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/mccain-vs-madison/ Cato's link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507081220/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/mccain-vs-madison |date=May 7, 2013 }}{{cite journal|last=Carpenter|first=Ted Galen|title=John McCain on Foreign Policy: Even Worse Than Bush|journal=Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture|url=http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2008/07/07/john-mccain-on-foreign-policy-even-worse-than-bush/|date=July 7, 2008|publisher=Rockford Institute|access-date=August 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904145311/http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2008/07/07/john-mccain-on-foreign-policy-even-worse-than-bush/|archive-date=September 4, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} [http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/john-mccain-foreign-policy-even-worse-bush Cato's link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005174947/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/john-mccain-foreign-policy-even-worse-bush |date=October 5, 2012 }}

Cato has criticized President Obama's stances on policy issues such as fiscal stimulus,{{cite web|last=Mitchell|first=Dan|title=Obama's New Stimulus Schemes: Same Song, Umpteenth Verse|url=http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obamas-new-stimulus-schemes-same-song-umpteenth-verse/|publisher=Cato @ Liberty|access-date=July 5, 2012|date=September 6, 2010|archive-date=August 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801043109/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obamas-new-stimulus-schemes-same-song-umpteenth-verse/|url-status=live}} healthcare reform,{{cite news|last=Healy|first=Gene|title=Obamacare is unconstitutional|url=http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/33274|access-date=August 20, 2013|newspaper=Washington Examiner|date=November 24, 2009|archive-date=March 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314180627/http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/33274|url-status=live}}, [http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/obamacare-is-unconstitutional Cato's link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113213639/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/obamacare-is-unconstitutional |date=November 13, 2012 }} foreign policy,{{cite web|title=Obama's War Without Policy in Libya|url=http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast/obamas-war-without-policy-libya|access-date=July 5, 2012|date=March 25, 2011|archive-date=August 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801224847/http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast/obamas-war-without-policy-libya|url-status=live}} and drug-related matters,{{cite web|last=Hidalgo|first=Juan Carlos|title=Barack Obama: The Enthusiastic Drug Warrior|url=http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/president-obama-the-enthusiastic-drug-warrior/|access-date=July 5, 2012|date=November 7, 2011|archive-date=June 23, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623082413/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/president-obama-the-enthusiastic-drug-warrior/|url-status=live}} while supporting his stance on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell{{cite web|last=Preble|first=Christopher|title=Obama Right on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"|url=http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obama-right-on-dont-ask-dont-tell/|publisher=Cato@Liberty|access-date=July 12, 2012|date=March 25, 2010|archive-date=July 10, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710062515/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obama-right-on-dont-ask-dont-tell/|url-status=live}} and his support for the DREAM Act (though not for his implementing its terms through executive action).{{cite web|last=Shapiro|first=Ilya|title=One Cheer for Obama's New Immigration Policy|url=http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/one-cheer-for-obamas-new-immigration-policy/|publisher=Cato@Liberty|access-date=July 12, 2012|date=June 19, 2012|archive-date=June 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620093816/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/one-cheer-for-obamas-new-immigration-policy/|url-status=live}}

Cato opposed Executive Order 13769, which was enacted in January 2017, which decreased the number of refugees admitted into the United States and suspended entry to individuals whose countries do not meet adjudication standards under U.S. immigration law.{{Cite web |last= Greenwald |first= Glenn |author-link= Glenn Greenwald |date= January 28, 2017 |title= Trump's Muslim Ban Is Culmination of War on Terror Mentality but Still Uniquely Shameful |url= https://theintercept.com/2017/01/28/trumps-muslim-ban-is-culmination-of-war-on-terror-mentality-but-still-uniquely-shameful/ |website= The Intercept |access-date= January 31, 2017 |archive-date= June 27, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170627135554/https://theintercept.com/2017/01/28/trumps-muslim-ban-is-culmination-of-war-on-terror-mentality-but-still-uniquely-shameful/ |url-status= live }}

Cato advocates that policymakers must be constantly reminded of the benefits of free trade and the costs of protectionism, arguing free trade is the extension of free markets across political borders. It promotes the idea that enlarging markets to integrate more buyers, sellers, investors, and workers enables more refined specialization and economies of scale, which produce more wealth and higher living standards, and argues that Protectionism does the opposite. Cato's policy recommendations focus on congress and the administration pursuing policies that expand the freedom of Americans to participate in the international marketplace.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/trade-policy|title=Cato on Trade|work=cato.org|access-date=October 13, 2021}}

The Cato Institute is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. For revenue, the institute is largely dependent on private contributions and does not receive government funding.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/about|title=About Cato|website=Cato Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222160723/https://www.cato.org/about|url-status=live}} The Cato Institute reported the fiscal year 2015 revenue of $37.3 million and expenses of $29.4 million.{{cite web|title=2014 Annual Report|url=http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/annual_report_2014.pdf|publisher=Cato Institute|access-date=14 April 2016|archive-date=July 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701225101/https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/annual_report_2014.pdf|url-status=live}} According to the organization's annual report, $32.1 million came from individual donors, $2.9 million came from foundations, $1.2 million came from program revenue and other income, and $1 million came from corporations.

The Nation reported support for Cato from the tobacco industry in a 2012 story.{{cite news|last1=Ames|first1=Mark|title=Independent and Principled? Behind the Cato Myth|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/167500/independent-and-principled-behind-cato-myth|access-date=9 December 2014|work=The Nation|date=20 April 2012|archive-date=January 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107193314/http://www.thenation.com/article/167500/independent-and-principled-behind-cato-myth|url-status=live}}

Funding details as of FYE March 2020:

{{col-begin|width=auto}}

{{col-break}}

{{Pie chart

| thumb = right

| caption=Operating revenue as of FYE March 2020: $31,695,000

| other =

| label1 = Individual

| value1 = 75 | color1 = steelblue

| label2 = Foundation

| value2 = 20 | color2 = saddlebrown

| label3 = Corporate

| value3 = 3 | color3 = chocolate

| label4 = Program and Other Income

| value4 = 2 | color4 = burlywood

}}

{{col-break|gap=2em}}

{{Pie chart

| thumb = left

| caption=Operating expenses as of FYE March 2020: $31,726,000

| other =

| label1 = Program

| value1 = 81 | color1 = steelblue

| label2 = Management & General

| value2 = 12 | color2 = saddlebrown

| label3 = Development

| value3 = 7 | color3 = chocolate

}}

{{col-end}}

Net assets as of FYE March 2020: $81,391,000.

In 2011, there were four shareholders of the Cato Institute: Charles and David Koch, Ed Crane,{{cite web | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/koch-brothers-lawsuit-cato-institute_n_1313852.html | title=Koch Brothers File Lawsuit Over The Ownership Of the Cato Institute | date=1 March 2012 | website=The Huffington Post | access-date=6 February 2020 | archive-date=March 3, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303021616/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/koch-brothers-lawsuit-cato-institute_n_1313852.html | url-status=live }} and William A. Niskanen. Niskanen died in October 2011.{{cite web | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2012/03/kochs-launch-court-fight-over-cato-073494 | title=Kochs launch court fight over Cato | last=Allen | first=Mike | date=1 March 2012 | website=Politico | access-date=25 May 2021 | archive-date=May 25, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525140923/https://www.politico.com/story/2012/03/kochs-launch-court-fight-over-cato-073494 | url-status=live }} In March 2012, a dispute broke out over the ownership of Niskanen's shares. Charles and David Koch filed suit in Kansas, seeking to void his shareholder seat. The Kochs argued that Niskanen's shares should first be offered to the board of the institute, and then to the remaining shareholders,{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-brothers-sue-for-control-of-cato-institute/2012/03/02/gIQAHQ9XpR_print.html | title=Battle for control of Cato Institute highlights unusual structure | last=Farnam | first=T.W. | date=4 March 2012 | newspaper=The Washington Post | access-date=25 May 2021 | archive-date=August 3, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803163630/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-brothers-sue-for-control-of-cato-institute/2012/03/02/gIQAHQ9XpR_print.html | url-status=live }} while Crane contended that Niskanen's shares belonged to his widow, Kathryn Washburn, and that the move by the Kochs was an attempt to turn Cato into "some sort of auxiliary for the G.O.P ... It's detrimental to Cato, it's detrimental to Koch Industries, it's detrimental to the libertarian movement."{{cite news|author=Lichtblau, Eric|title=Cato Institute Is Caught in a Rift Over Its Direction|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/us/cato-institute-and-koch-in-rift-over-independence.html|date=March 6, 2012|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 6, 2012|archive-date=August 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819104123/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/us/cato-institute-and-koch-in-rift-over-independence.html|url-status=live}} Those who supported Cato's existing management rallied around the "Save Cato" banner,{{cite web |date=September 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919092730/http://www.cato.org/SaveCato/#clickArea |url=http://www.cato.org:80/SaveCato/#clickArea |archive-date=September 19, 2012 |access-date=May 28, 2020 |work=Cato Institute |title=Save Cato |url-status=live }} while those who supported the Koch brothers, called "For a Better Cato".{{Cite web| title = For a Better Cato| access-date = May 28, 2020|archive-date=June 9, 2012| date = June 9, 2012| url = http://www.forabettercato.com/| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120609065226/http://www.forabettercato.com/}}

In June 2012, Cato announced an agreement in principle to settle the dispute by changing the institute's governing structure. Under the agreement, a board replaced the shareholders and Crane, who at the time was also chief executive officer, retired. Former BB&T bank CEO John A. Allison IV replaced him.{{cite news |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/06/25/koch-brothers-cato-institute-settle-dispute/ |title=Koch Brothers, Cato Institute Settle Dispute |first=Danny |last=Yadron |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=June 25, 2012 |access-date=June 25, 2012 |archive-date=October 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006120932/http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/06/25/koch-brothers-cato-institute-settle-dispute/ |url-status=live }}[http://www.cato.org/pressroom.php?display=news&id=209 Cato Institute and Shareholders Reach Agreement in Principle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828173317/http://www.cato.org/pressroom.php?display=news&id=209 |date=August 28, 2012 }}, Cato Institute press release, June 25, 2012. The Koch brothers agreed to drop two lawsuits.{{cite news|author=Lichtblau, Eric|title=Cato Institute and Koch Brothers Reach Agreement|url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/cato-institute-and-koch-brothers-reach-agreement/|date=June 25, 2012|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 8, 2012|archive-date=July 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706074934/http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/cato-institute-and-koch-brothers-reach-agreement/|url-status=live}}

In 2018, several former Cato employees alleged longtime sexual harassment by Crane, going back to the 1990s and continuing until his departure in 2012. Politico reported that he settled one such claim in 2012. Crane denied the allegations.{{cite news|title=Former Cato employees describe years of harassment|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/08/ed-crane-cato-institute-sexual-harassment-398989|access-date=8 February 2018|work=POLITICO|date=8 February 2018|archive-date=February 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209013812/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/08/ed-crane-cato-institute-sexual-harassment-398989|url-status=live}}

The following recipients of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences have worked with Cato:{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/people/nobel|title=Nobel Laureates at Cato|website=Cato Institute|access-date=May 20, 2020|archive-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919155213/https://www.cato.org/people/nobel|url-status=live}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-break|widht=33%}}

• Gary S. Becker
• James M. Buchanan
• Ronald Coase
• Milton Friedman

{{col-break|widht=33%}}

• Friedrich Hayek
• Robert Mundell
• Douglass C. North
• Edward C. Prescott

{{col-break|widht=33%}}

• Thomas C. Schelling
• Vernon L. Smith
• George J. Stigler{{Cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/1982/5/v6n3-3.pdf|title=Economists and Public Policy|website=Cato Institute|access-date=March 11, 2021|archive-date=December 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225130750/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/1982/5/v6n3-3.pdf|url-status=live}}
• Richard H. Thaler

{{col-end}}

Since 2002, the Cato Institute has awarded the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty every two years to "an individual who has made a significant contribution to advancing human freedom."{{cite book|last=Ronall|first=Joachim O.|title=Encyclopaedia Judica|year=2007|publisher=Thomson Gale|chapter-url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2587506865.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329142131/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2587506865.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 29, 2015|edition=2nd|author2=Saxena, Rohan |author3=Beloff, Ruth |access-date=August 18, 2013|chapter=Friedman, Milton}} The prize comes with a cash award of US$250,000.{{cite web | url=http://www.cato.org/friedman-prize | title=The Milton Friedman Prize | website=Cato Institute | access-date=13 April 2015 | archive-date=January 20, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140120081700/http://www.cato.org/friedman-prize | url-status=live }}

As of 2020:{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/board-of-directors|title=Board of Directors|publisher=Cato Institute|access-date=5 February 2020|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622104114/https://www.cato.org/board-of-directors|url-status=live}}

{{colbegin}}

• John A. Allison IV, former president and CEO, Cato Institute; retired chairman and CEO, BB&T
• Baron Bond, executive vice president, The Foundation Group LLC
• Rebecca Dunn, Trustee, DUNN Foundation
• Robert Gelfond, CEO and founder, MQS Management
• Peter N. Goettler, president and CEO, Cato Institute; former managing director, Barclays Capital
• David C. Humphreys, president & CEO, TAMKO Building Products, Inc.
• James M. Kilts, partner, Centerview Capital Holdings; former CEO, The Gillette Company
• James M. Lapeyre, Jr., president, Laitram, LLC
• Ken Levy, Levy Family Fund
• Robert A. Levy, chairman, Cato Institute
• Nancy Pfotenhauer, President and CEO, MediaSpeak Strategies
• Lewis E. Randall, former director, E-Trade Financial Corporation
• Howard Rich, chairman, U.S. Term Limits
• Nestor R. Weigand, Jr., chairman and CEO, JP Weigand & Sons, Inc.
• Jeffrey S. Yass, managing director, Susquehana International Group, LLP
• Fred Young, former owner, of Young Radiator Company

{{colend}}

Notable scholars associated with Cato include the following:{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/people/policy-scholars|title=Policy Scholars|work=cato.org|access-date=September 17, 2013|archive-date=September 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130918193233/http://www.cato.org/people/policy-scholars|url-status=live}}

{{colbegin}}

• Swaminathan Aiyar, research fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity
• Doug Bandow, senior fellow
• David Boaz, executive vice president
• Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies
• Mark A. Calabria, director of financial regulation studies
• Edward H. Crane, founder and president emeritus
• Steve H. Hanke, senior fellow and director, Troubled Currencies Project
• Gene Healy, vice president
• John A. Allison, former president and CEO
• Nat Hentoff, senior fellow
• Deirdre McCloskey, distinguished scholar
• Jeffrey A. Miron, senior fellow
• John Mueller, senior fellow
• William A. Niskanen, chairman and distinguished senior economist
• Johan Norberg, senior fellow
• Alex Nowrasteh, immigration policy analyst
• Walter Olson, senior fellow
• Tom G. Palmer, senior fellow and director of Cato University
• Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs
• José Piñera, co-chairman, Project on Social Security Choice
• William Poole, senior fellow
• Alan Reynolds, senior fellow
• Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, senior fellow in constitutional studies
• Julian Sanchez, senior fellow
• Cathy Young, cultural studies fellow

{{colend}}

{{colbegin}}

• Patrick Basham (Democracy Institute)
• David E. Bernstein (George Mason University School of Law)
• Donald J. Boudreaux (George Mason University)
• Robert L. Bradley, Jr. (Institute for Energy Research)
• Bryan Caplan (George Mason University)
• John H. Cochrane (University of Chicago Booth School of Business)
• Robert Corn-Revere (Davis Wright Tremaine)
• Tyler Cowen (George Mason University)
• Kevin Dowd (University of Nottingham)
• Richard A. Epstein (New York University School of Law)
• Alex Epstein (Center for Industrial Progress)
• Enrique Ghersi (University of Lima)
• Robert Higgs (The Independent Institute)
• Daniel B. Klein (George Mason University)
• Arnold Kling (George Mason University)
• Chandran Kukathas (London School of Economics)
• Loren Lomasky (University of Virginia)
• Jonathan R. Macey (Yale Law School)
• Tibor R. Machan (Auburn University and Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics)
• Michael Munger (Duke University)
• David G. Post (Temple University Beasley School of Law)
• Alvin Rabushka (Hoover Institution)
• Harvey Silverglate (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education)
• Ilya Somin (George Mason University School of Law)
• Richard L. Stroup (The Independent Institute)
• James Tooley (Newcastle University)
• Lawrence H. White (George Mason University)
• Glen Whitman (Royal Society)
• Walter E. Williams (George Mason University)
• Leland B. Yeager (Auburn University and University of Virginia)

{{colend}}

{{colbegin}}

• Radley Balko, media fellow
• Randy E. Barnett, senior fellow
• James M. Buchanan (1919–2013)
• Vladimir Bukovsky, senior fellow
• F. A. Hayek (1899–1992)
• Penn Jillette, H.L. Mencken research fellow
• Václav Klaus, distinguished senior fellow
• Deepak Lal, senior fellow
• Christopher Layne, visiting fellow in foreign policy studies
• Jeffrey Milyo, senior fellow
• P. J. O'Rourke, H.L. Mencken research fellow
• Jim Powell, senior fellow
• Richard W. Rahn, senior fellow
• George Selgin, senior fellow
• Vernon L. Smith, senior fellow
• Teller, H.L. Mencken research fellow

{{colend}}

The Cato Institute is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a U.S. national network of free-market oriented think tanks.{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-think-tank-report-99791.html |title=Report: Think tanks tied to Kochs |publisher=Politico |date=November 13, 2013 |first=Tal |last=Kopan |access-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-date=February 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215002658/http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-think-tank-report-99791.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.spn.org/directory/organizations.asp |title=Directory SPN Members |publisher=State Policy Network |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318011132/http://www.spn.org/directory/organizations.asp |archive-date=March 18, 2015 |df=mdy }}

According to the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania), Cato is number 27 in the "Top Think Tanks Worldwide" and number 13 in the "Top Think Tanks in the United States".{{cite web|author=James G. McGann (Director)|author-link=James McGann|url=https://guides.library.upenn.edu/c.php?g=1035991&p=7509972|title=2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report|date=January 28, 2021|access-date=February 16, 2024}} Other "Top Think Tank" rankings include # 13 (of 85) in Defense and National Security, #5 (of 80) in Domestic Economic Policy, #4 (of 55) in Education Policy, #17 (of 85) in Foreign Policy and International Affairs, #8 (of 30) in Domestic Health Policy, #14 (of 25) in Global Health Policy, #18 (of 80) in International Development, #14 (of 50) in International Economic Policy, #8 (of 50) in Social Policy, #8 (of 75) for Best Advocacy Campaign, #17 (of 60) for Best Think Tank Network, #3 (of 60) for best Use of Social Networks, #9 (of 50) for Best External Relations/Public Engagement Program, #2 (of 40) for Best Use of the Internet, #12 (of 40) for Best Use of Media, #5 (of 30) for Most Innovative Policy Ideas/Proposals, #11 (of 70) for the Most Significant Impact on Public Policy, and #9 (of 60) for Outstanding Policy-Oriented Public Programs. Cato also topped the 2014 list of the budget-adjusted ranking of international development think tanks.{{cite web|work=Center for Global Development|title=CGD's Think Tank Public Profile Rankings Are Back|date=March 17, 2015|author1=Gelb, Alan|author2=Diofasi, Anna|author3=Hashmi, Nabil|author4=Post, Lauren|url=http://www.cgdev.org/blog/cgds-think-tank-public-profile-rankings-are-back|publisher=cgdev.org|access-date=July 17, 2015|archive-date=July 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721051514/http://www.cgdev.org/blog/cgds-think-tank-public-profile-rankings-are-back|url-status=live}}

{{Portal|Libertarianism}}

• American Enterprise Institute
• Brookings Institution
• Foundation for Economic Education
• Fraser Institute
• The Heartland Institute
• Reason Foundation
• Tax resistance

{{Reflist|group=nb}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website}}
• {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|237432162}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Libertarian organizations based in the United States

Category:Libertarian think tanks

Category:Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.)

Category:Non-interventionism

Category:Organizations established in 1974

Category:Political and economic think tanks in the United States

Category:Public policy research