Unintended Consequences podcast artwork
Government

Unintended Consequences

by Cato Institute
GovernmentNewsPolitics

Last recorded placements from this show’s chart history. These are not current rankings.

If you like Unintended Consequences, try…

Ranking history · United States

Latest daily rankings: Oct 27. New rankings will appear after the next update.

Recent history only — this show has no current ranking on the Government chart. These are recorded positions from the last 14 days, not current rankings.

Position on the Government combined chart over the last 14 days. Toggle platforms to compare their positions. Lower rank numbers are better.

#71#93#115#137#159Chart rankOct 15Oct 18Oct 21Oct 24Oct 27
View as table
DateCombined RankApple PodcastsCastbox
Oct 27———
Oct 23#108#105—
Oct 19#127#128—
Oct 17#123#122—
Oct 16#149#150—
Oct 15#109#111#96
Oct 14#81#84#73

Latest episodes

  • Abundance, Yes, But in What?

    October 5, 2026 · 32 min

    Abundance is a tempting goal as Americans face shortages of housing and rising energy prices. But there are government regulations and interest groups that fight efforts to build more housing and energy infrastructure. In this episode…

  • Rent Control: Mayor Mamdani Backs an Old, Bad Idea

    August 20, 2026 · 29 min

    Rent control is a tempting solution to a very real problem, the lack of quality, affordable housing in tightly regulated municipalities. But controlling prices leads to significant, negative outcomes that not only discourage the building…

  • Delaware vs Elon Musk, a Corporate Law Showdown

    July 23, 2026 · 31 min

    There are structures and institutions that shape our lives in significant ways and yet are almost entirely hidden from our attention. Delaware’s overwhelming dominance in corporate law is one of them, so powerful that, thus far at least…

  • Carbon Tax vs. Green Subsidies

    June 11, 2026 · 20 min

    There’s an ongoing debate among economists about the most effective policy for incentivizing a reduction in carbon emissions. It’s essentially Team Carbon Tax vs Team Green New Deal, which is a debate over whether prices or subsidies are…

  • Just Follow the Science?

    May 14, 2026 · 39 min

    During the covid pandemic, it became popular for folks to say “just follow the science” when it came to making decisions about medical treatment and public health. But in this episode – which covers ivermectin, psychologists’ prescription…

Show 7 more episodesShow fewer episodes
  • The FCC Chairman Should Not Be a Minister of Truth

    April 9, 2026 · 28 min

    The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission threatened to not renew licenses for broadcasters that were too negative in their coverage of the US-Iran War. But this abuse of FCC authority in the name of protecting the “public…

  • Swiss Cheese Contracts Are Melting Down

    March 12, 2026 · 21 min

    Handling corporate debt has long been a standardized process, but something strange has been happening with contract law in recent years. These loan agreements are like the oil that lubricates our economic engine, yet the oil is breaking…

  • The Perplexing Puzzle of the Social Cost of Carbon

    February 19, 2026 · 33 min

    Economists use something called the “social cost of carbon” to estimate the future physical and economic damages caused by climate change. Yet the final dollar cost assigned to carbon emissions fluctuates wildly: from roughly $7 under…

  • Was Milton Friedman Wrong about the Minimum Wage?

    January 15, 2026 · 29 min

    As Milton Friedman thought that the weight of careful research about the negative effects of the minimum wage would lead to an overwhelming consensus among economists and ultimately end public support for the policy. It didn’t work out…

  • “Make New York Like Houston?”: Housing and Induced Demand

    December 11, 2025 · 24 min

    You might’ve heard that building more roads to reduce traffic doesn’t really work because of induced demand, the way in which building new infrastructure simultaneously creates more demand. In this episode, Peter and Paul discuss a similar…

  • A Nuclear Renaissance?

    November 13, 2025 · 33 min

    Four decades ago, America stopped building new nuclear power plants. Some economists have even linked that decision to the era of lost economic growth known as the “Great Stagnation.” But now demand for energy is exploding, given the need…

  • A Food Fight at the Bureau of Labor Statistics

    October 9, 2025 · 31 min

    President Trump recently fired the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), claiming that the downward revision of employment numbers was evidence of some kind of conspiracy to make the administration look bad. Paul and Peter…

Full episode archive on Apple Podcasts →

About the show

Unintended Consequences is the podcast of Regulation magazine, produced by the Cato Institute. Hosted by Peter Van Doren and Paul Matzko, the show explores how government interventions can have surprising—and often negative—consequences. Drawing from Regulation's in-depth policy analysis and cover stories, each episode unpacks the gap between policymakers’ intentions and the real-world outcomes that follow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.