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…
News Release
Statement of Support for the Unfunded Mandates Accountability and Transparency Act
The Unfunded Mandates Accountability and Transparency Act (UMATA) represents a timely and necessary modernization of federal oversight. Nearly three decades ago, the original…
Blog
How CEI helped advance sound energy and environmental policy in 2025
When I started at CEI in December 2024, the energy and environment team already had its foot on the gas pedal. As the new…
Blog
Executive order embraces limited government approach to housing affordability
A March 13 Trump executive order, “Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction,” offers a number of good ideas for addressing high housing…
Blog
The Jones Act: High seas, higher costs than necessary
As the war with Iran intensifies, the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of global oil flows, has seen dramatic disruptions that…
Pacific Legal Foundation
Energy producers join lawsuit supporting repeal of EPA’s 2009 greenhouse gas rule
Washington, DC; March 19, 2026: A group of energy producers filed a motion today to join a lawsuit to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to repeal its 2009 Greenhouse…
Litigation
American Public Health Association v. Environmental Protection Agency
Energy producers urge courts to affirm the repeal of the EPA’s 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding Case Stake(s): Restoring constitutional limits on agency power…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Enduring policy principles with Richard Stern
In this week’s episode we cover housing affordability, labor unions and train safety, the late Paul Ehrlich (1932-2026), and the…
News Release
Federal Reserve keeps interest rates steady, higher inflation likely to continue: CEI analysis
The Fed has decided to keep interest rates steady, with inflation still too high to warrant rate cuts. With Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s…
Blog
Remembering Brian Doherty (1968–2026)
Journalist and author Brian Doherty died last week at the age of 57. A longtime Reason magazine contributor and chronicler of the world…
Blog
Idaho’s successful regulatory reform
Over at National Review, my colleague Hayden Stolzenberg and I examine some of Idaho’s recent regulatory reforms, as outlined in a recent CEI…
Op-Eds
Sunset for Regulations, Sunrise for Opportunity
Affordability is the big concern in households across the country, yet politicians are overlooking one big solution: regulatory reform. Federal regulations drive up the price…
News Release
CEI commends US Senate for confirming nomination of attorney Anna St. John for judicial appointment
The Senate voted today to confirm the nomination of attorney Anna St. John, a former CEI attorney, to be a judge for the Eastern District of…
Blog
The infrastructure cartel trap
At last week’s BlackRock US Infrastructure Summit in DC, federal and state policymakers, investors, and corporate leaders gathered to map out the next…
News Release
SEC to seek end to quarterly reporting mandate: CEI analysis
The Securities and Exchange Commission will propose to end mandatory quarterly reporting for public companies, and give companies the option to file semi-annually instead,…
Blog
Shutdown woes show why it is time to privatize the TSA
Imagine arriving at the airport for a long-anticipated vacation, only to face a line longer than an airport runway. The excitement quickly gives way…
Blog
The missing guardrail in crisis politics: Discipline
Modern American governance has developed a troubling pattern. Economic shocks like the 21st century’s financial panics and pandemic are often met with vast expansions…
The Daily Signal
A Sneaky Effort to Undermine the Fight Against Carbon Taxes
President Donald Trump has shown bold leadership by rejecting the radical global climate agenda. But now some lawmakers, including a handful of Republicans, have…
Blog
The week in regulations: Music royalties and avocado maturity
The Iran war continued to raise oil prices. The Trump administration took steps to raise tariffs under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act,…
Comment
CEI Comments on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027; and Basic Health Program
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Dear Dr. Oz, The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) submits these comments in support of several provisions…
Blog
Illiberalism: The bipartisan tradition
After experiencing the horrors of World War I and fearing a second World War could be imminent, Ludwig von Mises wrote Liberalism: The…
Human Progress
Olive Oil Prices Are Falling—So Should Olive Oil Climate Hysteria
Summary: Olive oil prices spiked in 2023 amid heat and drought in Spain, prompting widespread claims that climate change was driving the industry into…
Blog
Good and bad trade news: Jones Act suspension, but more tariffs on the way
Two conflicting bits of trade news came out yesterday. The good news is that the Trump administration is considering temporarily suspending the Jones…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Regulating finance with James Copland
In this week’s episode we cover the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, fighting fraud in broadband deployment, and…
The National News Desk
Inflation steady in February, but war risks new price surge
The National News Desk cited CEI’s expert on CPI data “The longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the greater the upward pressure…
News Release
Inflation increases in February, predates new soaring energy prices: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index report for February shows a 0.3 percent increase across all sectors. The increase predates the escalation in the Middle…
Blog
The Senate housing bill’s road to socialism
In the last week of February, I expressed hope that members of Congress would “embrace free-market proposals to advance opportunities in the housing…
Blog
Washington should resist the urge to overreact to high gas prices
Unfortunately, there has been a sharp increase in domestic gas prices since the conflict with Iran started.According to the Energy Information Administration, the…
Blog
Mandates before proven safety: How the Railway Safety Act ignores rail safety
The Washington Post’s recent piece on the Railway Safety Act underscores an essential point: safety legislation must be grounded in evidence, not fear…
Blog
Pardon me boys, is this the Special Interest Express?
The Washington Post published a smart editorial on Monday on why the proposed Railway Safety Act is a bad idea. The legislation…
News Release
White House wrong to push Railway Safety Act
The White House is reportedly urging lawmakers to include new restrictions on freight rail operations in upcoming infrastructure or transportation legislation. CEI policy experts…
National Review
House Passes Bill Pushing Back on Federal Appliance Meddling
They’re the regulations that literally hit home, and rarely in a good way. The Department of Energy sets energy efficiency standards for…
Blog
No free lunch: Price controls won’t make groceries more affordable
When Americans go to the grocery store, they expect to find food and drinks. Lately, many are encountering something else: sticker shock. According to…
Comment
CEI Comments on NIST’s Request for Information Regarding Security Considerations for Artificial Intelligence Agents
RE: Request for Information Regarding Security Considerations for Artificial Intelligence Agents Docket No.: NIST-2025-0035 The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) appreciates the opportunity to…
News Release
CEI celebrates important free market leaders and anniversaries: Our Words
Today, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 42nd birthday, CEI is proud…
Blog
Happy birthday to the Wealth of Nations – and to CEI
Today is the 250th anniversary of the publication of perhaps the seminal work of economics, Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes…
Blog
The week in regulations: Shellfish inclusion and paper manifest sunsets
The labor force shrank by 92,000 jobs in January. Oil prices spiked. Twenty-two state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s Section 122…
Study
Giants of the Free Society
Introduction I was invited to deliver remarks to the Philadelphia Society on the subject, “Giants on Whose Shoulders We Stand: What We Owe to…
News Release
21st Century Worker Act Aims to End Worker Classification Confusion
Today, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the 21st Century Worker Act, a much needed practical step to clear up persistent confusion surrounding worker classification…
News Release
92,000 jobs were lost in February, turbulent labor market continues: CEI analysis
The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report shows 92,000 jobs were lost in February, indicating a turbulent labor market. Given today’s report, attention…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Mississippi renaissance with Douglas Carswell
In this week’s episode we cover housing abundance, capitalism’s approval rating, audits of state finances, and the consumer nostalgia…
Blog
The problem with the EU’s deforestation regulation
The European Union’s (EU) Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) was adopted in 2023. The stated objective of the EUDR is “to reduce greenhouse gas…
Blog
The Railway Safety Act would derail progress one provision at a time
On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment spilled hazardous chemicals and prompted a massive, controlled burn that sent…
Issues and Insights
Who’s The Biggest Monopolist Of All? (Hint: It’s Not A Corporation)
Policymakers often argue over whether capitalism works and how aggressively it should be restrained. But they rarely ask the more pertinent question: where, exactly,…
Blog
Tariffs and inflation: Response to latest CPI release
On February 13th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent CPI release showed a 0.2 percent month-to-month increase for January and a 2.4…
Blog
The major questions doctrine at a crossroads
In Learning Resources v. Trump, the Supreme Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize President Trump’s tariffs.
The Daily Economy
‘Violent Saviors’: William Easterly’s Book on Imperialism and Conquest
While framed as a book about economic development theory and the history of colonialism, William Easterly’s latest tome is actually something grander and more…
Blog
The most powerful monopoly isn’t a corporation: Introducing the Capitol Control Quotient
Policymakers often argue over whether capitalism works and how aggressively it should be restrained. But they rarely ask the more pertinent question: where, exactly,…
Blog
The week in regulations: Fusion machines and suspicious health care
President Trump launched a preemptive war with Iran, leading many to question the true worth of the FIFA Peace Prize. The 2026 Federal Register…
Blog
Minimum lot sizes, maximum costs
When Americans think about the housing affordability debate, they tend to picture cranes, lumber prices, or mortgage interest rates. It is certainly important to…
National Review
Freedom from the Robinson-Patman Act Is Never More Than One Generation Away from Extinction
The National Review cited CEI’s new report on the Robinson- Patman law As I detail in a new report for the…