For more than 40 years, Cato has led the charge for liberty in our nation and around the world. The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization—or think tank—that creates a presence for and promotes libertarian ideas in policy debates. Our mission is to originate, disseminate, and advance solutions based on the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.

The foundations of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, and open markets. As Adam Smith, F. A. Hayek, and Milton Friedman stressed, freedom of exchange and minimally regulated markets provide the fuel for economic progress. Without exchange and entrepreneurial activity that is coordinated through markets rather than by governments, modern living standards would be impossible. Cato scholars explore policy reforms that could increase growth by strengthening property rights and the rule of law, safeguarding the value of money, reducing excessive taxes and regulations, scaling back government interference with trade and immigration, and reducing federal spending on programs that harm economic productivity.