Blog
Trump’s newborn nest egg accounts
In the face of recurring economic shocks—we’ve suffered 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and COVID-19 in the 21st century alone—the reflex to throw hundreds of…
Blog
The broken window fallacy: America doesn’t know what it pays for
If a kid breaks a shopkeeper’s window and a glazier fixes it, is the economy better off? It has created work for the glazier, so…
Blog
The week in regulations: Paper packaging promotion and bridge conditions
President Trump ordered National Guard troops to deploy against American citizens. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from hot air balloons to authorizing ski areas. On…
Blog
Congress should codify the National Listing Workplan
In the 15 years after the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973, it was repeatedly amended. Congress passed major amendments that updated…
Blog
Chapter and verse: The case against mandatory ESG standards
This week De Gruyter Brill published the book ESG Investing: Current Theory and Practice, edited by John Hill of Fairfield University’s Dolan School…
Blog
CBO likely overestimates effects of Medicaid reforms
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimates of the costs, both financial and in coverage, of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act…
News Release
Economy adds 139,000 jobs in May, labor market growth slows: CEI analysis
May added 139,000 jobs to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying unchanged at 4.2 percent. Trump’s policies, namely his mission to shrink the…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Tariffs and corruption with Justin Callais
In this week’s episode we cover Autumn Billings on donor privacy, Wayne Crews on the DOGE legacy, and Joey Politano on the…
WSJ Opinion
A Day of Defiance—and Donuts
It’s time to double down on National Donut Day. As Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. begins pushing his Make America Healthy Again…
Blog
The total cost of federal red tape last year was…
$2.15 trillion is CEI’s latest estimate of the costs of all federal regulations. It is an intentionally conservative estimate. Think of it as a floor,…
Politico
The lose-lose housing market
Politico cited CEI’s coalition letter addressing prediction markets First in MM: Free market advocates want to free the betting markets — More than a dozen…
Blog
Two courts, one message: Tariffs need congressional backing
Within the last few days, two courts have enjoined President Trump’s tariffs under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) finding them unlawful. First, the US…
Blog
Don’t socialize health care through private insurance
Four senators have introduced the “Supporting Healthy Moms and Babies Act,” which would mandate full coverage, no copays, no out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries…
News Release
Coalition urges Commodity Futures Trading Commission cut red tape on prediction markets
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today sent a coalition letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) urging it to adopt a policy of permissionless innovation…
Letters
CEI leads a Coalition Letter to End CFTC Red Tape Prediction Markets
Dear Acting Chair Pham and Commissioner Johnson: As leaders of conservative and free-market groups, we believe that government should not stand in the way of…
Blog
Clearing the tracks: CEI’s three-point blueprint to DOT deregulation
Background The Trump administration has made good on some of its promises of deregulation – namely with two executive orders from the beginning of this…
Blog
Senate should reject lobbyist sales pitches for alternative energy subsidies
Lobbyists for the companies hoping to cash in on the many alternative energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are crying foul now…
Blog
CEI’s The Surge: Expert testimony, Spanish blackout, 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 and…
Blog
DOGE after Musk: From meme to momentum
Elon Musk’s short but headline-grabbing stint with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has concluded, but the broader deregulatory agenda remains robust and far from…
Blog
The week in regulations: Low-moisture human foods and grass promotion
Lots of transportation-related regulatory cleanup this week. Friday alone had 47 proposed rules, most of them to repeal obsolete regulations. Two courts struck down Trump’s…
Blog
Medicaid cost explosion
Over the past five years, Medicaid has defied all expectations and projections. It is the third largest program that the government administers, and it has…
Blog
Life is made of trade
If I hadn’t become an economist, I might have found happiness as an evolutionary biologist. The two ways of thinking have a lot in common.
Blog
How IAIS advances DEI policies
As explained in an earlier blog post, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has drifted away from its mission and is actively working…
Blog
Big Beautiful Bill threatens the Costco of health care
You’ve probably never wondered why you buy peanut butter from the grocery store instead of directly from the J.M. Smucker Company or your TV from…
Blog
Eight energy policies that reduce competition and increase energy prices
The US Department of Justice’s Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force was accepting comments from the public in part “seeking information about laws and regulations that…
Real Clear Markets
“Andrew Ferguson’s Crucial Disdain For the Digital Markets Act”
Charles Sauer with the Market Institute writes about FTC Chair Ferguson’s recent speech criticizing the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
Blog
Congress needs to do more to address the IRA energy tax credits
Many of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credit reforms that exist in the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act comes…
Citation
Impact Of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – ‘Clean Energy Ghost Towns’
MRCTV cited CEI’s expert on Inflation Reduction Act Ben Lieberman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute recently testified before the House Oversight Committee on the impacts of…
Blog
For the sake of user privacy, keep Google search remedies narrow and germane
The movement in the Biden and Trump administrations of antitrust officials away from consumer welfare and towards a federal judiciary of active regulation is on…
News Release
Trump’s IEEPA tariffs overturned by international court, setting up Congress to reclaim taxing powers: CEI analysis
Last night, the Court of International Trade overturned the tariffs that President Trump implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). CEI senior economist…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Protecting consumer credit with Caroline Melear
In this week’s episode we cover new research on trade and tariffs, how to understand market forces, and good news for…
Blog
Deregulation deferred—not defeated—by the Big Beautiful Bill
In my latest Forbes column, I detail how the House-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB) had the potential to revolutionize federal regulatory policy. But…
Truth on the Market
“Could the DOJ and FTC Reform Regulations that Harm Competition?”
Eric Fruits with ICLE discusses the DOJ and FTC comment period on reducing anti-competitive regulatory barriers.
Forbes
How The Big Beautiful Budget Bill Can Deliver Decisive Deregulation
Media coverage of the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill (BBB; see committee report) naturally focuses on the spending. And that…
News Release
Restoring Gold Standard Science executive order directly confronts the reproducibility crisis in scientific research
On May 23, 2025, President Trump issued Restoring Gold Standard Science, an executive order (EO) that requires federal agencies to prioritize transparency, reproducibility, objectivity,…
Blog
Spanish blackout should serve as a warning
If policymakers don’t want Americans to find themselves in the dark, then they should pay attention to the harmful electricity policies in Spain. Spain experienced…
Comment
CEI Comments on Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers
RE: Request for Public Comment Regarding Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers Docket No.: FTC-2025-0028 On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we submit comments to…
Reason
“More Government Intervention Won’t Make Concert Tickets Cheaper”
Jack Nicastro with Reason talks about the DOJ and FTC request for comment on “Unfair and Anticompetitive Practices in Live Ticketing.”…
News Release
Report offers trade reform blueprint for Congress
President Trump’s Liberation Day trade tariff policies are failing, just as economists predicted. What can stop the tariff-imposed pain of higher prices, fewer choices, and…
Comment
CEI Comments to Department of Justice Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force
Dear Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force Members: We appreciate this opportunity to provide comments to the task force regarding anticompetitive laws and regulations. There is often…
Blog
New CEI paper: How to break the trade blockade
Today is release day for a new CEI paper by Kent Lassman, Iain Murray, and me, Trade Under Blockade: Navigating a Global Trade War.
Blog
The week in regulations: Postage prices and outdoor burning
Former President Joe Biden announced a cancer diagnosis. The House passed a big spending bill. A political activist murdered a young Jewish couple. Agencies issued…
Study
Trade Under Blockade
Introduction President Donald Trump threw the world trading system into disarray with his “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2, 2025. The principles behind the General…
Blog
Senate pulls plug on California’s gas car ban
The US Senate on Thursday voted 51-46 for H.J. Res.88, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval to repeal the Environmental Protection…
Blog
The flaw in Justice Kagan’s defense of the NLRB
Justice Elana Kagan authored a lengthy dissent to the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday granting the Trump administration’s request to keep the Gwynne Wilcox,…
Truth on the Market
“RIP RPA?”
Dan Gilman with ICLE discusses the FTC’s decision to drop its Robinson Patman Act (RPA) suit against Pepsi.
Comment
CEI comments on proposed regulation of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry
Re: Proposed regulation of the Department of Labor and Industry, “Local Government Union Requirements and Employee Protections” Dear Ms. Bernhardt: I appreciate the opportunity to…
News Release
MAHA Commission recommendations on improving government-directed research merit consideration
President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again Commission released the “Making Our Children Health Again” report, which seeks to evaluate health trends among America’s youth,…
News Release
Newly announced tariffs on EU and Apple will harm U.S. economy, raise costs for consumers
This morning, President Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on the European Union starting on June 1 and a 25 percent tariff on iPhones…
News Release
Senate votes to rescind the Biden EPA’s California waiver on gas-powered cars
Today, the Senate voted to rescind the Biden EPA’s waiver allowing California to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. This follows a…