Blog
Learning Resources and the limits of the foreign affairs paradigm
The conventional story about presidential power in trade law runs something like this: Congress enacts broad statutory language, courts treat foreign affairs as the…
News Release
Energy and oil prices driving force behind March inflation increase: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for March shows a 0.9 percent increase across all sectors, mainly driven by significantly higher energy and…
Blog
Congress needs to curtail the FCC’s public interest authority
How do we know when a broadcaster is acting in the “public interest”? Under current law, the answer is simple: when the Federal Communications…
Blog
Ten Thousand Commandments 2026 is out now
Today is release day for this year’s edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of CEI’s…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Consumer-regulated energy with Travis Fisher
In this week’s episode we cover economic growth in China, the political legacy of Viktor Orban in Hungary, and the…
Politico
Ethics, DeFi and memecoins, oh my
Politico cites CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews on the release of his new report, the 2026 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments. The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
InsideEPA.com
CEI questions Trump’s deregulatory agenda
InsideEPA.com cites CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews on the release of his new report, the 2026 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments. The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
The Washington Times
Impact of Trump’s 646 deregulatory actions diluted by tariffs, executive orders
The Washington Times cites CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews on the release of his new report, the 2026 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments. Report author…
News Release
Report: Regulations cost $2 trillion annually, but only Congress can fix the problem
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today released its annual report documenting the vast burden that federal regulations impose on American businesses and citizens. “Government regulations continue…
Products
Chapter 13: Getting things undone: An agenda for rightsizing Washington
We close with an appeal to restore enumerated powers. This would solve the overregulation dilemma, and would have prevented it in the first place. Reforms…
Products
Chapter 7: Unified Agenda of regulatory actions
Along with the Report to Congress, the Federal Register, and the Code of Federal Regulations, another vehicle for regulatory disclosure is the spring and fall…
Products
Chapter 5: Over 19,000 agency public notices annually
Presidents issue a few dozen memoranda and other proclamations each year. Departments and agencies, however, issue thousands of public notices in the Federal Register every…
Products
Chapter 4: Regulatory dark matter
Although executive actions are typically understood to deal with the internal operations of the federal government, they increasingly can have binding effects and influence private…
Products
Chapter 10: Federal rules affecting state and local governments
State and local officials’ concerns about federal mandates overriding their priorities resulted in passage of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) of 1995. The law…
Products
Chapter 2: Why we need a regulatory budget
Federal spending programs are funded either by taxes or by borrowing, with interest, from future tax collections. The public can readily inspect the costs of…
Products
Chapter 8: Economically significant rules
From 1993 until April 2023, rules with annual economic effects of at least $100 million were classified as economically significant. Biden’s EO 14094 raised the…
Products
Chapter 9: Federal regulations affecting small business
The National Association of Manufacturers report reaffirmed that average annual per-employee regulatory costs vary by firm size. The smaller the organization, the higher the per-employee…
Products
Chapter 3: Numbers of rules and page counts in the Federal Register
The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations. Although its page counts are often cited as a…
Products
Chapter 1: Trump 2.0: Year one and the regulatory state’s uneven reset
“It is the policy of my Administration to focus the executive branch’s limited enforcement resources on regulations squarely authorized by constitutional Federal statutes, and to…
Products
Chapter 11: GAO database on rules and major rules
The federal government’s regulatory reports and databases serve different but intertwined purposes. The Federal Register presents all proposed and final rules, along with numerous presidential…
Products
Chapter 6: A note on rule reviews at OMB
Rule reviews at OMB are a useful variable to examine alongside costs, page counts, rule counts, and guidance documents, among others. Figure 17 depicts 449…
Products
Chapter 12: The 2026 Unconstitutionality Index: 18 rules for every law
Article I of the Constitution vests legislative power in Congress. In practice, however, administrative agencies issue the vast majority of binding rules governing economic activity…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2026
Introduction Record federal spending and record-setting regulatory burdens often march in lockstep. New spending is straightforward to track, but regulations obliging the private sector…
Blog
Privatize a little, fix a little: Why Trump’s TSA contracting plan is not meaningful privatization
If this latest Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown has confirmed anything, it is how deeply structural the drawbacks of the Transportation Security…
Blog
When solar tax incentives overheated, the residential solar market became scorched
Residential solar has long been sold as a win-win for consumers and the environment. It was marketed as an affordable way for homeowners to…
Blog
The week in regulations: Lead paint and mailing firearms
Gas prices topped $4.00 per gallon. The one-year anniversary of President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs was solemnly observed. Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Freedom Works Radio
AUDIO: CEI’s Wayne Crews Joins Freedom Works Radio to Discuss the 2026 Release of Ten Thousand Commandments
CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews joined Freedom Works Radio to discuss the current state of regulations in America, as outlined in his new report, 2026’s…
News Release
Economy adds 178,000 jobs in March, mixed revisions signal remaining uncertainty: CEI analysis
While the economy added 178,000 jobs in March, mixed revisions for previous months still indicate an uncertain labor market. Policy instability remains an inhibiting…
Blog
Quartz tariffs are looming and your kitchen could pay the price
Earlier this week, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that increased quartz imports are injuring the domestic quartz industry. The petitioners, the…
Blog
Let’s put the next SpaceX in our 401(k)s before its launch onto public markets
As Artemis II achieved liftoff for the first moon voyage in more than 50 years, space news also rocked the investment world with the…
Blog
One year of Liberation Day
Today marks one year since President Trump’s Liberation Day press conference in the White House Rose Garden. Trump declared a national emergency because Americans…
Blog
DOJ files suit to end California’s unlawful climate and auto power grab
The Trump administration’s rollback of Obama and Biden administration climate policies keeps rolling along. The latest initiative is a lawsuit filed by the…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Kids, social media, and the First Amendment with Jessica Melugin
In this week’s episode we cover budget reconciliation and deficit spending, the burdens of Total Boomer Luxury Communism, and how to…
Blog
Federal regulation 1st quarter 2026 report: Bureaucracy on the back foot
Here at the close of the first quarter of 2026, the March 31 Federal Register stands at 16,115 pages, containing 609 final rules and…
Blog
Fair notice and the nondelegation doctrine: A due process lens
Debates over the nondelegation doctrine usually begin with constitutional structure. Article I vests “[a]ll legislative Powers” in Congress, so when Congress gives agencies sweeping…
Blog
Review of Michael Sheridan’s The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and His New China
In my continuing quest to learn more about the US’s number one strategic rival, I recently finished reading (i.e., listening to it on Audible)…
Blog
From airport security lines to the Danger Zone: TSA delays and public safety
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) staffing shortfall is creating more than long lines. It may already be putting travelers’ lives at risk. Since the…
Real Clear Energy
Quibbling Over Carbon Metrics: Senator Cramer’s Ill-Advised, Unauthorized Carbon Tax Trojan Horse
The U.S. may stumble into a carbon taxed future due to a provision furtively inserted into the House committee report accompanying the energy and…
Blog
The week in regulations: Resettling refugees and sea otter casualties
TSA lines reached their longest-ever wait times, bolstering the case for privatizing airport security. President Trump’s signature will appear on US currency starting later…
News Release
Shutdown underscores the need for privatized airport security
A partial shutdown stretching beyond 40 days is a reminder that when government controls essential services, those services can easily become tools of political…
Blog
License to misfire: The new CDL rule backfires on safety and prices
The American economy runs on trucks. From groceries to medical supplies to construction materials, nearly everything travels by road at some point. In the…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Population and abundance with Gale Pooley
In this week’s episode we cover income inequality, myths about homelessness, First Amendment protections for AI, and reforming unfunded…
Blog
Tariffs are taxes: February’s PPI shows where they land
February’s Producer Price Index (PPI) report came in hot. Final demand increased by 0.7 percent from January, for an annualized rate of nearly…
News Release
‘Tech Panic’ Wins in Court, at the Expense of Free Speech
Today a California jury found Meta and Google liable for depression and anxiety suffered by a 20-year-old woman who claimed to have been addicted…
Bloomberg Law
Trump’s Deregulatory Project Gets Mixed Grade in New Report
Bloomberg Law cites CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews on the release of his new report, the 2026 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments. The…
Blog
The consequences of American socialism: A review of John Kenneth Galbraith’s Economic Development
John Kenneth Galbraith’s 1963 book Economic Development asks the same question Adam Smith asked: where does wealth come from? His answers are very…
Blog
End minimum parking requirements and let the housing market drive
It may sound counterintuitive, but some significant housing policy is tucked away in the parking sections of local zoning codes. A minimum parking requirement…
Blog
Trump’s AI plan clears the field — then occupies it
Preempting state overreach in artificial intelligence (AI) regulation is urgent — but it’s only half the job. Firm limits on federal power matter just…
Blog
CEI’s The Surge: EU forest regulation, power scarcity, and more
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication…
Blog
The week in regulations: Library pictures and aerobatic airplanes
The Iran war entered its fourth week. ICE agents might be reassigned to airport security. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. President Trump…