Cato University

This is a reminder that I’ll be teaching at this year’s Cato University, where I and a distinguished cast of faculty will lecture on the political, historic, philosophical and economic foundations of liberty. There will also be ample opportunity for informal conversations with the faculty and, even better, with the other students, who I have learned from past experience are always bright and lively and fun.

Come join us, July 29 through August 3, at Cato’s newly expanded headquarters in DC. The insights you’ll gain, and the friends you’ll meet, will last a lifetime.

Click here to comment or read others’ comments.

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9 Responses to “Cato University”


  1. 1 1 martin

    if this could be video (or even audio) recorded that would be tremendous.
    modern technology should make this trivial.
    the ratio of online views to live, local views is generally very high for this kind of thing.

    we still operate under the 19th century model of a professor talking to a bunch of students sitting in front of him. we ought to embrace the youbute age.

  2. 2 2 NC Lawyer

    … and spellcheck age too.

  3. 3 3 nobody.really

    In every respect, Cato University 2012 is built on the foundations of liberty.
    * * *
    [W]e’ve kept the cost of Cato University at $995.

    Will Cato University occur on earth? Does Cato intend to exclude people who fail to pay $995 for the privilege of occupying the space where the program will occur? If so, by what authority?

    I have not granted my consent to being excluded. It would appear that Cato is asserting a property right – that is, not a right derived from mutual assent of specific parties, but a right asserted against the world without consent.

    You can embrace liberty (grounded in consent). You can embrace real property rights (grounded in coercion). But ultimately one must be subordinated to the other. I doubt Cato University 2012 is built on the foundations of liberty.

    (Exercise for the reader: If Cato University occurred in cyberspace, could Cato assert a stronger claim to the right to exclude?)

  4. 4 4 Ken B

    Nobody.really: “You can embrace liberty (grounded in consent). ”

    Arrow.theorem

  5. 5 5 Keshav Srinivasan

    Steve, do you still plan to give a talk in Maryland?

  6. 6 6 Ken

    The security certificates for the link:

    https://www.cato.org/cato-university/registration.html

    have expired. I’d sure like to see what this is all about, but I’m not really interested in going to an insecure website, much less spend money to attend something on an insecure website. Their “Contact Us” link isn’t working either.

  7. 7 7 Steve Landsburg

    Keshav Srinivasan: The Maryland talk has been postponed till the autumn.

  8. 8 8 iceman

    This post needed a dash of nobody.really:

    Presumably Cato would say
    1) liberty is a natural right so not even “grounded in consent”
    2) property rights simply give effect to liberty, by demarking where mine encroaches on yours. Even if mutual assent were necessary and possible, there will be gray areas and people will cheat. Yes they involve enforcement, but to me a desire to prevent you from coercing me is not “grounded in coercion”.

  9. 9 9 Trident Online College

    Cool! Sounds like a fun lecture series.

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