The Open Market Blog

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/09/2019

Contrary to my earlier prediction, the number of new regulations this year did not pass 2,000 last week, ending the four-day week at 1,991. Meanwhile,…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/05/2019

Early in the Trump administration, a series of executive orders slowed the growth of new regulations and removed some existing rules. From the start of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/02/2019

The UK parliament will soon be suspended for a five-week period, something the U.S. Congress should consider emulating as often as possible. Over in the…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/26/2019

A humorous diplomatic row over Greenland was not the only news of the week, with China tariffs, divisive rhetoric, and recession fears also putting in…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/19/2019

Last week was the Federal Register’s busiest of the year, with its 3,075 pages almost tripling a normal week’s count. A new economically significant regulation…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/12/2019

Rumblings of a “Navarro recession” are growing louder, and the 2019 Federal Register will likely crack the 40,000-page mark early this week. Rulemaking agencies published…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/05/2019

In a pre-recess Parthian shot, the Senate passed a massive new spending bill that would increase federal spending by $320 billion over two years and…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/29/2019

Congress has adjourned for its August recess, so the republic is safe for another month. Rulemaking agencies are still on the job, however, and published…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/22/2019

The Raise the Wage Act, which passed the House on Thursday, would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. The bill now moves…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/22/2019

Washington, D.C.’s flash flood was followed up by a heat wave; this week could bring even worse during Congress’ final week in session before the…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/15/2019

Washington, D.C. was hit by a flash flood, but agencies were still able to publish new regulations ranging from electric program procedures to Fort Ord…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/08/2019

It was a four-day week for the federal government as the nation celebrated Independence Day. Meanwhile, agencies published new regulations ranging from the Paper and…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/01/2019

The 2019 Federal Register broke 30,000 pages last week, the Democratic presidential candidates had their first debates, and the U.S. and Chinese governments prepared for…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/24/2019

Wednesday, the day before the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th anniversary gala dinner, saw no new final regulations published in the Federal Register. This may be…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/17/2019

Last week, a Canadian team won the NBA championship for the first time, while an American team won the Stanley Cup. This week brings us…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/10/2019

While the administration is so far keeping to its one-in, two-out policy for proposed rules, new trade and antitrust policies are likely to increase net…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/03/2019

President Trump threatened a new tariff on all Mexican goods, potentially scuttling the NAFTA/USMCA agreement. My colleague Wayne Crews went through the new Spring 2019…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/31/2019

Things have been moving quickly on President Trump’s top legislative priority, the NAFTA/USMCA trade agreement. The key was rescinding steel and aluminum tariffs against Canada…

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/27/2019

The number of new final regulations this year topped 1,000 last Tuesday, and President Trump and Congress entered Memorial Day weekend at odds on issues…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/20/2019

The Game of Thrones finale aired last night, though the show’s less-plausible Washington spinoff appears set to continue indefinitely, and with a rather larger budget.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/17/2019

The Trump administration is mostly lifting its steel aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, effective 48 hours from today’s announcement. But metal tariffs will remain higher…

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/17/2019

Some economists do more than teach classes and write books. Alice Rivlin, who passed away this week, was proof. She was the first director of…

Banking and Finance

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/13/2019

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes called for breaking up the company; CEI’s Iain Murray and Kent Lassman explain why that’s a bad idea. CEI also released…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/08/2019

The 2019 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State is out now.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/06/2019

Not one, but two potential Federal Reserve Board nominees withdrew from consideration last week, and economic growth and unemployment remained in excellent health. Meanwhile, with…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/06/2019

On Sunday, President Trump announced via Twitter that if he does not approve of the results of this week’s U.S.-China trade talks, he will enact…

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/01/2019

Congress is supposed to pass an annual spending budget, though it rarely gets around to it. Instead, the government is usually funded through a mashup…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/29/2019

While Washington’s “This Town” types geared up for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the rest of the country flocked to movie theaters for a much…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/22/2019

The Notre Dame cathedral in Paris caught fire and sustained heavy damage. The rebuilding will likely take years, though people began politicizing it almost instantly.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/19/2019

Nationwide 5G networks are coming. They will expand possibilities for everything from smartphone applications to GPS to streaming video, and will enable new technologies that…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/15/2019

In a remarkable human achievement, scientists took the first-ever image of a black hole. The effort took eight telescopes on five continents, five petabytes of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/08/2019

The news cycle was more sizzle than steak last week. President Trump threatened to shut down the southern border and backed off almost immediately, so…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/01/2019

Pundits spent the week engaging in mortal combat over the Mueller Report, which none of them have read, and spring officially sprung with baseball’s opening…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/25/2019

As tempers flared over how many “chuggas” to say before “choo-choo,” the 2019 Federal Register topped the 10,000-page mark last week and the number of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/18/2019

President Trump has declared passing the new NAFTA/USMCA as his top legislative priority, but congressional ratification will not be automatic. Mexico and Canada are also…

Regulatory Reform