Blog
NLRB’s Joint-Employer Ruling: Payback for Unions at Workers’ and Business’ Expense
In a radical new ruling, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) late last week threw all American franchise and contract businesses into a state of…
The Freeman
World’s Poor: “We Want Capitalism”
Daily Caller
NLRB Upends Franchising And Contracting In Landmark Case
Iain Murray talks to the Daily Caller about the devastating effects of the NLRB Joint Employer ruling: The impact could be great. Many…
Blog
The NLRB Declines Jurisdiction in College Athlete Unionization Case
The National Labor Relations Board has declined the opportunity to rule on whether or not college athletes are employees and can therefore be…
The Freeman
Liquid Capital Was the First Killer App
The sharing economy is older than smartphone apps. The modern financial system may be the first example to have evolved. Rather than sharing capital assets…
Blog
The Administration Is about to Upend American Business Practices
It is probably the biggest change in American employment law since the National Labor Relations Act and its reform in the 1930s and ‘40s, but…
Blog
CEI and Allies Submit Evidence to Australian Senate Inquiry on Credit Cards
Today, CEI and other members of the International Alliance for Electronic Payments joined the Australian Taxpayers Alliance in submitting evidence to an Australian Senate inquiry into credit…
Comment
IAEP Submission to Australian Senate on Credit Card Interest Payments
Full Document Available in PDF Credit card interest rates and other features are only partly driven by factors such as the Reserve…
Blog
Financial Regulation and Payments Update: July 31, 2015
Last week saw the fifth anniversary of Dodd-Frank and there was a great deal of commentary from opponents of the act, not least from us…
Blog
Dodd-Frank’s Dire Legacy: The Durbin Amendment
Study
How Dodd-Frank Harms Main Street
The financial crisis of 2007-2008 was a drastic shock to the American economy. Now five years after being signed into law, Dodd-Frank was just as powerful…
National Review
There Is No ‘Deal’ to Reauthorize Ex-Im
I am bemused by Senator Cruz’s volte-face on trade-promotion authority. There is no deal to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank (which CEI, like…
National Review
Raisins Takings Case Goes Back to Magna Carta
One of the oddest cases the Supreme Court decided today also should have been one of the simplest. In Horne v USDA the very simple…
National Review
The True Myth of Magna Carta
Today, Britain, America, and other Anglosphere countries celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. In that meadow, tranquil to today (at least…
The Freeman
The Poor Need Affordable Energy
Affordable energy is fundamental to what economist Deirdre McCloskey calls the “Great Fact” of the explosion of human welfare. It remains central to the…
National Review
America’s Own FIFA: the EPA
The Freeman
Britain Back from the Brink of Socialism (For Now)
RealClear Policy
Special Interests vs. Trade Promotion Authority
With the United States currently negotiating two mammoth trade agreements, President Obama being granted Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is far from a done deal. Opposition…
The Freeman
The UK’s Return to Socialism
Blog
UK Banks End Reward Programs in Anticipation of Interchange Fee Caps
File this one under “we told you so.” The Independent reports a scale-back in credit card reward programs in the United Kingdom: The…
Blog
Operation Choke Point: The CFPB Is Now in Charge
I suggested at TheBlaze some weeks ago that even as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was stepping back from its involvement in Operation Choke Point, the…
Comment
Remarks at the International Alliance for Electronic Payments Panel on EU Interchange Fee Regulations
Blog
International Panel Outlines Problems with EU Interchange Fee Regulation
On March 17, an international panel of experts gathered in Brussels to discuss the proposed EU interchange fee regulations that are set to be approved…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Bitcoin
On the eve of the financial crisis of 2007-8, financial systems had grown extremely sophisticated, but were still essentially based on a model of trust.
Products
Wall St. attacked, Main St. wounded
Washington Examiner
No Currency Manipulation Rules in Pacific Trade Deals a Good Thing for Americans
Last week, President Obama told Congressional Democrats not to expect any rules against “currency manipulation” in the forthcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. This is…
The Blaze
Operation Choke Point: Consumer Protection Bureau Can Act as Judge, Jury and Executioner to Targeted Businesses
The Obama administration has been waging an undeclared war on businesses it doesn’t like by stretching executive authority beyond its proper bounds. Known as Operation…
The Freeman
Greece Jumps from Scylla to Charybdis
Every Greek child reads Homer in school. So Greek children are familiar with the legend of Scylla and Charybdis, from Homer’s Odyssey. The sailor Odysseus,…
Blog
FDIC Retreats from Operation Choke Point
In a partial victory for all those campaigning against the abuse of power known as Operation Choke Point (see our comprehensive study here), the Federal…
The Blaze
Obama’s Abuse of the Veto Makes Him an ‘Imperial President’
Just a few days into the new Congress, and President Barack Obama already has made three—count ‘em—credible veto threats. Representatives and Senators had barely started…
The Freeman
The Importance of Free Speech to Human Progress
The Blaze
Want to Help Someone Rebuild Her Business? Better Lawyer Up!
Neighbors and people across the nation were appalled when local shops in Ferguson, Missouri, burned down during the recent disturbances there. Thankfully, family, friends, and…
The Freeman
Kickstarting It Old School
Blog
Rep. Leutkemeyer Moves to Choke off Operation Choke Point
The release this week of a new House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff report into Operation Choke Point provides another opportunity to underline just how…
Washington Examiner
What Lame Ducks Might Do
Iain Murray spoke with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Congress' Lame Duck December Q: With just a handful of legislative days remaining in December, what concerns…
Blog
Corporate Action against Disease Points Way to Resiliency Strategy for Developing World
In a piece at The Freeman today, I examine how corporations in the developing world have reacted to the threat to their workers from diseases such…
The Freeman
Greedy Corporations Save Lives
With Ebola wreaking havoc across West Africa, news that a private company has virtually eradicated the disease on its extensive property invites sighs of relief.
CNBC
Why Retailers are Wrong on Apple Pay
There's a war going on for your wallet. Around the world, the credit and debit cards we use every day are under threat from a…
The Blaze
Dodd-Frank Court Case Could Provide Injunctive Relief for America
The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 has been a disaster for our financial system. Passed in haste after the financial crisis ostensibly in order to stop…
Blog
The Long National Nightmare of Dodd-Frank Is Almost Over
One of the prime reasons for the continuing economic uncertainty that bedevils so many ordinary Americans is the presence in law of the Dodd-Frank Act…
American Spectator
No Triple Mandate for the Federal Reserve
A recent speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen got considerable attention over her subtly implied suggestion that the Fed consider taking on a…
Washington Examiner
Minimum Wage, Maximum Damage
This article was originally published at the Washington Examiner on October 27, 2014. There are few policies more popular than increasing the federal minimum…
The Blaze
Has Operation Choke Point Ended?
Has your bank account been canceled for no good reason? If you’re in a business the government doesn’t like, soon it could be. Firearm sellers,…
The Freeman
Freedom and Whisky Go Together
On Thursday, Scottish voters will decide whether to dissolve the 300-year-old union with England and Wales or remain in it. Until a few weeks ago,…
The Freeman
Sending Money Home: Technology or Bureaucracy?
Blog
The Impending BitLicense and Premature Regulations
Last month, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced its proposed regulations for businesses engaged in “Virtual Currency Business Activity.”The Department defines these businesses…
Products
Deputizing America
The Freeman
Deputizing America
Study
Cutting the Gordian Knot: A Road Map for British Exit from the European Union
This study was originally published at the Institute for Economic Affairs as a finalist for the 2014 IEA Brexit Prize coauthored with Rory…
Study
Operation Choke Point
Can the government shut down legal but politically disfavored businesses? If an ongoing federal regulatory campaign continues, that may be precisely what happens.