News Release
Labor-supported bill would protect unions, force workers into unions they never voted for
Twenty Republican House members joined their Democratic colleagues in passing the Faster Labor Contracts Act last night. The bill would fast-track union negotiations, allowing…
News Release
Inflation still stubbornly high in May, future rate increase growing more likely: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index report for May shows inflation rose 0.5 percent across all sectors, with energy continuing to be a major factor…
Blog
Congress wants to retrain workers for the AI economy. The private sector is already doing it
Last week, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) released a discussion draft of the Great American AI Act, an AI policy…
Blog
The EU ran the experiment, America should not repeat it
“I worry a lot about the broad scope and the vague language that [AICOA] contains that I believe would lead to an untold…
News Release
CEI announces Professor Donald J. Boudreaux as Simon awardee, CEO Mick Ebeling as keynote speaker, and historian Lindsay Chervinsky as emcee at the 2026 Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner.
Blog
Trump’s Strait of Hormuz insurance plan gambles with taxpayer dollars
As wars and skirmishes escalate, the risks to commerce increase and are reflected in market prices. In past conflicts, shipping firms faced soaring premiums…
Blog
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations at 250
Last week I participated in a National Association of Scholars event on the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. The…
Blog
The week in regulations: Bone void filler and halibut action
May’s job numbers were strong for the third month in a row, though job growth since Liberation Day remains under 100,000, for a labor…
Washington Examiner
The government has no business in AI
People worry about the ways artificial intelligence will change jobs, education, creativity, and daily lives, according to polling. But…
Blog
The Economist’s founder and the fight for free trade
My CEI colleagues Iain Murray and Ryan Young wrote in 2018 that tariffs benefit “domestic producers and the politicians they support,” at the expense of “everybody else in the…
News Release
Economy added 172,000 jobs in May, better than expected report: CEI analysis
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report for May shows an unexpected increase of 172,000 jobs, indicating an economy that has…
Blog
Section 301 and the problem of limitless tariff justifications
Earlier this week, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced findings from a series of Section 301 tariff investigations concerning imports allegedly made with…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: State budgets and bailouts with Thomas Savidge
In this week’s episode we cover promising new classroom technology, increasing productivity (and avoiding layoffs) with AI, and the repeal of…
Blog
The Faster Labor Contracts Act would force workers into unions they never voted for
Unions and their allies in Congress say that the Faster Labor Contracts Act is needed to prevent businesses from endlessly delaying workers’…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR’s Coalition Letter in opposition to Banning, Over-Regulating Drug Ads
Dear Members of Congress, We, the undersigned organizations, write in opposition to recent efforts to quash direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs.
News Release
CEI Report: AI Industrial Policy Schemes Create “Misalignment by Design” and a New AI Welfare State
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute contends the greatest risk associated with artificial intelligence is not technological misalignment but what author…
Study
Welcome to the Machine
The transition toward superintelligence will come with serious risks—from economic disruption, to misuse in areas like cybersecurity and biology, to the loss of alignment…
National Review
The Insane Climate Bureaucracy That Never Was
On Friday, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins made one of the most important announcements in the history of modern financial regulation. His…
Blog
Clean Air Act reform bills may be on the move: Mostly good, one bad
There are more Clean Air Act (CAA) bills that could be on the move in the House.Tomorrow, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment…
News Release
Trump EO on AI recognizes innovation imperative but leaves room for overreach
The Trump White House today put forward an executive order on “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security.” CEI regulatory…
Blog
The week in regulations: Onion marketing and refrigerator leaks
PCE inflation, which the Federal Reserve uses for its interest rate decisions, rose to 3.8 percent, nearly double the Fed’s 2.0 percent target. President…
News Release
SEC seeks end to costly climate-related mandates
The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rescinding the costly, Biden-era rules mandating that companies provide climate-related information in registration statements and annual reports. The SEC cited a return to the…
Blog
The Railway Safety Act would shift freight from safer rails to deadlier roads
More than 36,000 Americans died on US roads in 2025. Fewer than 1,000 died on the rail system. Yet while highway fatalities…
Washington Examiner
Market expectations for rate hike haunt Warsh and GOP
The Washington Examiner cites Senior Economist Ryan Young on the consumer price index: Additionally, the producer price index showed wholesale inflation shot up…
National Review
Three Arguments Against Tariffs
President Trump loves tariffs. The Americans paying them don’t. A recent CNN poll found that 65 percent of Americans blame Trump’s tariffs…
Blog
State legislatures targeting noncompete clauses
At least 15 states have enacted significant restrictions on noncompete agreements, ranging from minimum income thresholds to outright bans. Eight states have passed…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Fighting for freedom with Kent Lassman
In this week’s episode we cover bank privacy, SNAP benefits, a new study on tariffs, and a great new…
Blog
Solving the tariff problem
Over at National Review, I summarize my recent paper making three arguments against tariffs. These are the knowledge problem, the incentive problem,…
Blog
The inconsistent burdens of the state regulatory patchworks affecting ISPs
As the debate over federal- versus state-driven artificial intelligence (AI) regulation intensifies, many observers emphasize the risks of an emerging state AI patchwork…
Blog
Colorado legislature joins Illinois in breaking national payment system
One of the glories of the modern economy is that you can walk into a store anywhere in America, or indeed much of the…
News Release
CEI leads coalition letter urging Senate action on regulatory reform bills
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today led a coalition letter to Senate Republican leaders urging passage of two important House-passed regulatory reform bills, the Guidance Out of Darkness…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter Urging Passage of Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act (H.R. 1515) and the Information Quality Assurance Act (IQAA) (H.R. 6329)
Dear Leader Thune and Senator Paul: We write to urge the passage of the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act (H.R. 1515) and…
Blog
OPFAIL: Establishing a Congressional Office of Political Failure Analysis
For decades, reformers have proposed some version of a Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis (CORA), a congressional counterpart to the regulatory oversight apparatus housed…
Blog
Less discretion, more discipline: Three focus areas for Warsh at the Fed
New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh should focus on three dimensions of reform: how the Fed makes decisions, the size of its market footprint,…
Blog
The week in regulations: Black boxes and weather reports
The 2026 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages. President Trump’s Justice Department is poised to give him a $1.776 billion fund he can use to…
Comment
CEI Comments on Collaboration Guidelines Request for Information
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division’s…
News Release
Misnamed ‘Railway Safety Act’ advances in House
The misleadingly named Railway Safety Act pushed by the Trump administration was inserted in the Build America 250 Act today and passed out of the…
NOTUS
EPA Eases Limits on ‘Super Pollutants,’ Claiming It Will Lower Food Prices
The Trump administration is loosening restrictions on “super pollutant” chemicals that are highly potent greenhouse gases, claiming that allowing their increased use will drive…
Washington Examiner
Freedom Conservatives plot a post-Trump Republican Party
MAGA, “America First,” paleoconservatism, integralism, Christian nationalism, social conservatism, the disruptor Right, and fusionism all the way through to the Never Trumpers: The conservative…
Blog
Railway Safety Act in the balance
Today, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee is marking up the BUILD America Act — the surface transportation reauthorization bill. Among the amendments…
Blog
Enemy of affordability: The radical climate agenda
For decades, some lawmakers and other proponents of radical climate policies have given little consideration to the adverse effects on consumers and the poor.
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Fighting Medicaid fraud with Parker Thayer
In this week’s episode we cover higher inflation numbers, a strike on the Long Island Rail Road, and new disability…
Bloomberg Tax
SEC Proposes Scaling Back Auditor Testing of Fraud Safeguards
Most US-listed companies would be exempt from requirements they hire an outside auditor to field test safeguards meant to ensure investors can rely on…
Blog
House subcommittee to hold hearing on forest management bills
On Thursday, May 21, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a hearing on several bills, many of which would…
News Release
New CEI report outlines the major reasons why tariffs don’t work
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report by CEI Senior Economist Ryan Young entitled “Three Reasons Tariffs Don’t Work”…
Study
Three Reasons Tariffs Don’t Work
He just likes tariffs. President Trump’s decades-long love of tariffs comes from the heart. The intellectual arguments Trump and his aides use to justify…
Blog
New CEI paper: Three arguments against tariffs
I have a new paper out today that explores three arguments against tariffs. They are the knowledge problem, the incentive problem, and the…
Blog
America 250 election year rightsizing: Time to get things undone
The new 2026 Ten Thousand Commandments survey of federal regulation and reform landed at an awkward moment. Election cycles tend to crowd out serious…
Blog
The week in regulations: Date taxes and microreactors
It was nearly a 3,000-page week in the Federal Register, roughly double the usual pace. Year-over-year inflation jumped to 3.8 percent, the worst reading…
Washington Post
A simple step by Europe could loosen Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz
John Berlau is director of finance policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. As European nations ponder unilateral actions to bring shipping back to…