Blog
The Danger in Blurring the Private and Public Boundaries with Government Regulation
The recent decisions of many technology companies to remove users and customers from their platforms have deeply divided Americans. Many Americans feel censored and discriminated…
The Kansas City Star
Political Realignment Provides Hope For A Less Polarized Society In America’s Future
Fortune
The Facebook Antitrust Suit is a Major Assault on Entrepreneurs
The new antitrust actions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several states aimed at breaking up Facebook are being …
Blog
Amazon’s Private Labels Don’t Threaten Competition
A recent Wall Street Journal article raises concerns about Amazon’s generics offerings and the online retailer’s business practices surrounding diaper sales. In evaluating…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR Leads Coalition Opposing OECD’s Digital Taxation Proposal
We, the undersigned 23 organizations, representing taxpayers and consumers across the globe, strongly urge you to oppose any and all attempts to curb international tax…
News Release
New EU Tech Rules will Chill Innovation and Harm Consumers
The European Union today announced new rules it claims will change the way technology companies operate. The EU says the Digital Services Act and…
Blog
Some Frequently Asked Questions about Socialism
During my virtual “tour” for the release of my book, The Socialist Temptation, certain questions came up regularly. I have already set out my…
News Release
State AG and FTC Antitrust Actions against Facebook Fail to Prove Consumer Harm or Anticompetitive Behavior
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 48 State Attorneys General today announced antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, asserting the social media company’s acquisitions of Instagram and…
The Oklahoman
Point of View: America’s Political Realignment is Still Underway
EP NewsWire
COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Record GDP Numbers: Good News and Next Steps
EP NewsWire cites CEI senior fellows Iain Murray and Ryan Young on economy and regulations. Ryan Young, CEI Senior Fellow: “Most of the talk…
News Release
Record GDP Numbers: Good News and Next Steps
Today’s GDP numbers are good news — but what policies will help people who still suffering and aid a fuller recovery? Ryan Young, CEI Senior Fellow:…
Blog
Forty Years of Freedom: Rail Deregulation Worked
Forty years ago today, President Carter signed the Staggers Act, which deregulated the American freight rail industry. As CEI has long maintained, this…
Blog
Court-Packing Isn’t the Left’s Only Threat to the Supreme Court
The Left’s threat to the pack the Court by expanding the number of justices seems to be unpopular. But they have proposed other policies that…
News Release
House Report on Tech and Antitrust Ignores the Consumer Harm Standard
Today the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law released a report advocating changing antitrust laws and using them to break up…
News Release
DOJ-Recommended Changes to Section 230 Would Lead to More Moderation of Conservative Speech
The Department of Justice today asked Congress to make changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a provision that protects any website from…
News Release
New CEI Report Finds Bipartisan Embrace of Harmful, Interventionist Tech Policies
Neither major political party holds a monopoly on bad ideas when it comes to federal policy towards the technology sector, according to a…
Study
Terrible Tech 2.0
View Full Document as PDF Executive Summary If you are looking for bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., the technology policy sector may be your…
Acton Line
AUDIO: The Socialist Temptation with Iain Murray
Acton Line Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray joins the Acton Line podcast to discuss The Socialist Temptation: In his new book, The Socialist Temptation, author Iain…
New Books Network
AUDIO: Iain Murray Discusses The Socialist Temptation on Regnery Gateway, 2020
New Books Network Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray joins New Books Network podcast New Books in Politics and Polemics to discuss The Socialist Temptation.
Blog
All Levels of Government Need a Top-to-Bottom Review of Transportation Policy
Evidence is mounting that mass transit played a major role in spreading COVID-19. According to analytics firm TrendMacro, the only factor “that seems to make…
Blog
Are Scandinavian Countries Socialist?
Are modern Scandinavian countries actually socialist? This question must be asked because it is a common rhetorical device of “democratic socialist” politicians to wave away…
The Bookmonger Podcast: National Review
AUDIO: CEI’s Iain Murray Joins The Bookmonger Podcast
Blog
The Socialist Temptation: Why Don’t People Remember the Horrors of Socialism?
Why are people still attracted to socialism when its history is plain for all to see? One reason is that those who proclaimed the dawn…
National Review
Why Are We Even Contemplating Canceling Aristotle?
There is a good piece hidden in philosopher Agnes Callard’s recent article for the New York Times about cancel culture. Unfortunately, that piece is lost in the framing device.
National Review
Socialists on the March
Last week, several self-proclaimed Democratic Socialists defeated long-serving Democratic incumbents in New York State primaries. One of the insurgents, Zohran Mamdani, tweeted out the words, “Socialism won.” His pinned tweet on…
The Capitalist League
Iain Murray: Socialism, Capitalism, and American Values
One of the most important things I learned at the feet of Fred Smith, founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was that most Americans don’t…
Town Hall
Socialism and the Cultural Revolution
In the 1953 classic film The Wild One, a girl asks Marlon Brando’s smoldering Johnny Strabler what he is rebelling against. He answers, “What’ve you got?”…
National Review
Socialism and the Corporation: A Love-Hate Relationship
Socialists would rather the traditional American firm did not exist. Animosity towards the capitalist boss for reaping all the rewards of his employees’ labor, or (perhaps…
Epoch Times
Why ‘Socialism’ Sounds Like ‘American Values’ To So Many
The Epoch Times quotes CEI’s Iain Murray Support for socialism in America isn’t new, nor is the successful push for socialist policies. It seems…
American Greatness
U.S. Economy Suffers Biggest Quarterly Decline Ever, Under Coronavirus Lockdowns
American Greatness cites CEI senior fellows John Berlau and Iain Murray: The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are considering bills for additional coronavirus relief…
Blog
The Socialist Temptation: Socialism and American Values
The way to reach people is by making sure a policy accorded with their values. In his new book, The Socialist Temptation, Iain Murray argues…
Blog
America’s Cultural Revolution
In his forthcoming book, The Socialist Temptation, Iain Murray talks about how socialism in China produced the Cultural Revolution. The text of the book was…
News Release
House Infrastructure Spending Bill Serves as Green ATM
House Democrats will vote today on the INVEST in America Act (H.R. 2), a massive $1.5 trillion infrastructure spending bill. CEI experts across a spectrum…
Blog
Infrastructure Bill’s Non-Serious Nature Is a Serious Problem
America’s current surface transportation authorization, the FAST Act, expires at the end of September. Rather than reauthorizing it, however, House Democrats have introduced the INVEST…
Blog
Emergencies and the Project Manager’s Dilemma
Government agencies’ initial responses to the COVID-19 crisis were notable for one particular characteristic: incompetence. From basic errors in data collection, through failed lab safety…
Youtube
VIDEO: Iain Murray Discusses #NeverNeeded Regulations and COVID-19
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow Iain Murray joins Dana Loesch to discuss #neverneeded regulations and COVID-19…
Bloomberg Law
Covid-19 Revives Debate over Economic Benefits of Deregulation
Bloomber Law cites Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow Iain Murray on #neverneeded regulations: Direct government aid won’t be enough to get…
Blog
Delivery Price Caps Threaten New Restaurant Lifeline
Tomorrow, the Washington, D.C. City Council votes on a bill that seeks to impose a price cap on the commission a third-party delivery platform can…
Blog
The Economy after COVID-19 Will Be Different from Before, Part One
As governors begin to lift restrictions on economic activity, polling data show that Americans are generally still afraid of the virus and have changed their…
Real Clear Markets
An Effective Pandemic Response Would Be Deregulation
During a pandemic, regulations should not get between sick people and health care, or between hungry people and food. This also applies in normal times.
News Release
Report: Repeal #NeverNeeded Regulations to Help COVID-19 Response
COVID-19 relief bills have so far focused on keeping businesses and households afloat during the pandemic closures and quarantines, but the federal government should continue…
Study
How Repeal of #NeverNeeded Regulations Can Help Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis
A number of factors are combining to stress the American economy in the spring of 2020—the global and domestic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, an…
News Release
701k Jobs Lost in March 2020: Statement by Iain Murray
In response to today's abysmal jobs report tallied by the federal government – 701,000 jobs lost in March as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Blog
Regulation, Not Offshoring, Is Hindering Industry from Ramping up Production
In his latest Bloomberg column, Noah Smith argues that offshoring production led to the current shortage of medical masks and equipment in the face of…
News Release
CEI Experts Blast Attempts to Politicize COVID-19 Relief Bill
While the nation suffers, Washington has descended into an unseemly squabble over the latest COVID-19 relief bill. Politicians from all quarters are attempting to expand…
National Review
Pandemics, Stimulus, and the Limitations of Flash Policy
Over the past two weeks, America has faced the onset of a pandemic, an oil-price war, and a stock-market crash. In the face of these…
Blog
Liberate to Stimulate 2020: Let’s Start with Trade
The past two weeks have seen a volatile market owing to concerns over coronavirus, which suggests an economic downturn could be on the cards. The…
Blog
Joint Employer Rule Gives Much-Needed Certainty to Franchises
The National Labor Relations Board finalized a rule last week that will bring much needed relief and certainty to the franchise industry and other industries…
Comment
CEI Comments on Intermediate Bodies Rule
Dear Director Rosenfield, On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I respectfully submit the following comments. Founded in 1984, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is a…
National Review
Them the People
National Review cites senior fellow Iain Murray on democratic socialism: Murray, talking about his forthcoming book The Socialist Temptation at a CEI event in New Orleans, describes the inherent tension…
Blog
Best Books of 2019: The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
How did a joint stock company founded in Elizabethan England come to replace the glorious Mughal Empire of India, ruling that great land for a…
Blog
Competitive Enterprise Institute Opposes USMCA Trade Agreement
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today announced its opposition to the USMCA trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada because the updated agreement…
News Release
CEI Opposes USMCA
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today announced its opposition to the USMCA agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The Hill
The British Election Will Show the Undeniable Power of Nationalism
My home town of South Shield in the northeast of England last elected a Tory as its member of Parliament in 1834. Now the conservative…
Fox News
Lassman & Murray: Is New Conservatism Really Progressivism?
For much of the past century, conservatives in America largely fused the ideas, means and political factions of two distinct worldviews: traditional social arrangements informed by…
Law and Liberty
When Commerce Is Not Enough
Why is anger a large part of your customer base? That’s the question we should ask when we look at what “woke capitalism” is doing…
News Release
London’s Anti-Uber Decision Will Impact Jobs, Travel Accessibility/Affordability
On news today that the city of London is not renewing Uber’s license to operate in the city, Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Iain Murray…
News Release
Is Capitalism Destroying Democracy?
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute examines that question at a time when progressives increasingly assert democracy in the United States is being…
Study
Democratic Capitalism: Why Political and Economic Freedom Need Each Other
Is capitalism destroying democracy? It is an old question that political thinkers have long wrestled with.
The Wall Street Journal
Free-Marketeers Have Taken Social Conservatives for Granted
For many free-market advocates, the recent conservative dalliance with noncapitalist policies has been as stunning as it has been swift. While President Trump’s antipathy to…
Fox Business
VIDEO: Iain Murray Discusses Trade and the G7 Summit on Varney and Co.
Competitive Enterprise Institute Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray joined Varney and Co. on Fox Business to discuss trade and President Trump at the G7…
News Release
CEI Experts: Delay on China Tariffs Shows Real Burden Is on Consumers
On news today that the US Trade Representative will delay new tariffs on some consumer items until Dec. 15, as well as exclude some products from tariffs.
Blog
Growth Slows as Tariffs Bite
Economic growth slowed in the second quarter of 2019, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. It remained above 2% thanks to a combination of…
Reason
At Least 80 Workers Are Losing Their Jobs at This Pennsylvania Steel Plant. Tariffs Are To Blame.
Reason cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on the effects of tariffs. “The layoffs at NLMK were entirely predictable. Tariffs disrupt supply chains…
CGTN America
UK Ambassador to US Resigns Over Leaked Memos Controversy
CGTN America cites Vice President of Strategy Iain Murray on US-UK tensions following the resignation of the British Ambassador to the United States. “There…
CGTN America
VIDEO: Iain Murray US-UK Tensions
Vice President of Strategy Iain Murray joined CGTN America to discuss US-UK tensions following the resignation of the British Ambassador to the United States.
Blog
Political Realignment Is Big Problem for Free-Market Supporters
Angela Nagle, an economic nationalist and author of “Kill All Normies,” recently argued on a podcast that, “Conservatives are starting to have these interesting debates…
Yahoo Finance
VIDEO: S&P 500 Companies Tighten their Capital Spending, Rising 3% from a Year Ago
Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray joins Yahoo Finance to discuss capital spending.
Fox Business
Big Tech vs. Free Speech? It’s Not that Simple
After Facebook and other social media companies’ recent moves to ban Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and other extremists some pundits are calling for the end of the safe harbor that…
Blog
Tariffs Slow Investment, Threaten Retail Industry
Large U.S. companies slowed their investment in the first quarter of 2019, largely because of ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. This is…
News Release
US Trade Deal with Canada and Mexico on Steel, Aluminum Tariffs Praised by CEI Expert
Competitive Enterprise Institute Vice President Iain Murray praised news of today's deal to lift US tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico:…
Blog
White House Uses Discredited Complaints Tactic against Social Media Companies
My colleague Wayne Crews has already slammed the White House for a first step towards government regulation of online speech in its “tech bias” complaints…
Blog
Breaking up and Regulating Facebook: Unfair, Un-American, Unacceptable
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, former publisher of The New Republic, argues in a long essay for The New York Times that the company should be…
News Release
Facebook’s Calls for Government Regulation of Speech Provide Important Context for Recent Actions
Facebook announced yesterday it was banning several individuals under a policy it has against “dangerous individuals and organizations.” Individuals banned include: InfoWars founder Alex Jones,…
CNS News
Facebook Moves on from ‘Move Fast and Break Things,’ Calls for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…
Blog
Sharing Economy Is Opposite of Servant Economy
In a bleak take on the sharing economy, Atlantic writer Alexis C. Madrigal says it has created a “servant economy,” where sharing economy platforms provide…
Blog
Move Slowly and Establish Rules: Facebook’s Call for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…
Blog
America’s Tech Regulators Should Not Follow Europe’s Lead
This week The Economist endorsed European “tech doctrine”—a combination of antitrust, tax, privacy, and regulatory policies that is rapidly being imposed on a mostly American…
Blog
Brexit Brinkmanship
There is plenty of blame to go around for Britain’s current Brexit chaos. In a recent post, I pointed to how the Prime Minister’s handling…
The Washington Times
Antitrust Explained
The Washington Times cited Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on CEI’s video, “Antitrust Explained.” Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren is among those who…
News Release
CEI Releases New Video: How Antitrust Harms Consumers by Stifling Innovation and Competition
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today launched a new video, “Antitrust Explained,” disputing recent calls by politicians and academics to use antitrust laws and regulations…
National Review
Breaking Up Platforms Has Sickening Implications
Hipster antitrust sickens me. Literally. I was under the weather last week. Feeling ill, I spent a good amount of time at local pharmacies, searching…
Blog
Trade, Job Losses, and Comparable Wages
One of the frequent objections posted by those who are concerned about free trade is that it leads to job losses. This is true. However,…
Blog
Administration Looks to Make Household-Level Imports More Expensive
One of the consistent problems with the Trump administration’s trade policy is an obsession with reciprocity—if goods aren’t treated exactly the same way as imports…
The Washington Examiner
On Trade, Conservatives Need to Stick to the Knitting
Successful companies tend to “stick to the knitting,” focusing on things they are good at, note Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in their seminal book…
Blog
Economics of Green New Deal: More Red Than Green
My colleagues have written elsewhere about the energy and environmental components of the “Green New Deal” proposals that have been enthusiastically agreed to by most…
Blog
Jobs Numbers Continue Generally Positive Trend
The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that the economy is continuing on a steady course, at least as far as…
Blog
Brexit: The EU’s Gordian Knot Strangles May’s Government
When Rory Broomfield and I were examining the prospects for Britain leaving the European Union in 2014-16, we recognized that there was no easy way…
Blog
Great Jobs Numbers Don’t Assuage Trade War Worries
Today’s jobs numbers were a surprise to everyone—312,000 jobs added in December was almost twice the consensus view of economists of 176,000. Strong wage growth…
Fox Business
The New Congress Must Repeal All of Trump’s New Tariffs ASAP: CEI
In two years, President Trump has doubled tariffs in the United States. Allies and adversaries alike have reciprocated, and the economic effects are already visible,…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Trade Policy
2018 was the year in which President Trump began to implement his campaign promises of using tariffs to change America’s trade policy. The ostensible reason…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Antitrust
If 2018 was a bad year for antitrust skeptics, 2019 promises to be worse. We must hope that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of…
The Hill
Congress must restrain power of new consumer financial director
The new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathleen Kraninger, will have a unique opportunity to end past abuses against American financial institutions, a…
Cavuto Coast to Coast
VIDEO: Iain Murray Discusses Google Bias Concerns on Cavuto Coast to Coast
Competitive Enterprise Institute Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray joined Cavuto Coast to Coast to discuss the fallout from concerns of bias at Google.
Fox Business
Conservatives should resist the urge to regulate Big Tech
Nearly every day there seems to be another story that demonstrates that Big Tech is biased against conservatives. Recently, we saw the “lifetime” ban of conservative…
Fox Business
Conservatives Should Resist the Urge to Regulate Big Tech
News Release
Brexit Imperiled by Incompetence
Britain’s Prime Minister has bungled Brexit, which puts significant economic gains at risk, says Iain Murray, CEI senior fellow and co-author of a 2016, award-winning…
Blog
Don’t Blame Google for a Feature Consumers Want
It’s very rare I disagree with the great freedom-loving journalist John Stossel, but his column at Townhall this week made me raise an eyebrow. In…
Blog
Britain’s Treaty of Versailles
“Vote leave, take control” was the slogan of the “leave” campaign during the run-up to the vote on whether the United Kingdom should exit the…
Study
Antitrust FAQ
1. What is antitrust? Today’s body of antitrust laws is the culmination of over one hundred years of unclear objectives, contradictory interpretations, and controversial court decisions.