Outlet profile

Cato Institute (Opinion)

U.S. libertarian (think tank)

Owned byIndependent nonprofit think tank (501(c)(3)) based in Washington, D.C. It has no parent company and is governed by a board of directors. Its president and CEO is Peter Goettler.

FundingDonations from individuals, foundations and corporations, plus book and event revenue. It says it takes no government money. Charles and David Koch gave roughly $30 million over the years, and other foundations and donors have also given.

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

Cato was founded in 1977 as the Charles Koch Foundation, by Ed Crane, Charles Koch and economist Murray Rothbard. It moved to Washington in 1982. Crane led it until 2012, and Peter Goettler has led it since 2015. In 1992 Charles Koch left its board. A 2012 dispute between the Koch brothers and Cato's leadership over control of the shareholder structure ended in a settlement that changed the board. Cato publishes policy studies, the Cato Journal and a large volume of online commentary. Its scholars generally support free trade, lower spending, school choice, drug legalization and looser immigration rules, and they oppose foreign interventions. Critics on the left say its funders' interests, including its past skepticism of climate science, shape its positions. Critics on the right say it is too open on immigration and trade. In Trump's second term, Cato has filed a brief arguing that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize his tariffs. Its scholars have called broad tariffs a recipe for making Americans worse off. Its output is mostly policy analysis and opinion, not news reporting.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-11-02; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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