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Government of Singapore Demonstrates Real Online Censorship
Singapore’s recent policing of online content provides an instructive example of the difference between private curating of material by platform owners and dangerous curtailing of…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
While the nation celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends, rulemaking agencies published new regulations ranging from almond information to missile accidents.
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Negative Interest Rates’ Impact on Public Pensions
One of the main responsibilities of pension fund managers is to work to maximize investment returns in order to grow the plan’s assets and thus…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress averted a government shutdown until December 20th by passing a continuing resolution. The Fall 2019 Unified Agenda was also released, which compiles all rulemaking…
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House Committee Releases Tax Bill to Extend Electric Vehicle, Wind, and Solar Handouts
In what amounts to the tax component of the Green New Deal, the House Ways and Means Committee released a draft of its “Growing Renewable Energy…
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Activist Groups Demand Pelosi, Castor Implement Green New Deal
Two hundred fifty nine activist groups are demanding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor…
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Environmental Protection Agency Revises Risk Management Program for Industrial Facilities
“First, do no harm,” is good ethical advice for regulators as well as doctors, but the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency took a risk management program for…
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Trump Regulatory Reform Agenda By the Numbers: End of One-In, Two-Out?
The Trump administration has released the Fall 2019 edition of the twice-yearly Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Late and incomplete compared to the last…
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Corporate ‘Social Responsibility’ Must Be Voluntary, Not Mandated
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) just wrapped an event on corporate governance titled “The Role of a Corporation: The Shareholder versus Stakeholder Debate,” and it…
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Should End Frivolous Student Loan Lawsuit
The efforts of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger have gone a long way in reversing egregious Obama-era actions that plagued the agency,…
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Remembering Transportation Economist Shirley Ybarra
On November 10th, longtime CEI friend Shirley Ybarra passed away. Shirley was an accomplished transportation economist and a leading thinker on innovative transportation infrastructure finance…
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EPA, Progressives Clash over Transparency Rule
The House Science Committee held a hearing last week titled “Strengthening Transparency or Silencing Science? The Future of Science in EPA Rulemaking.” Most of the witnesses and…
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Congress Breaking Promises, Extending Tax Credits for Electric Vehicles, Wind, and Solar
It is not unusual for Congress to keep extending a supposedly temporary federal program, and that includes the tax credits for electric vehicles and wind…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2019 Federal Register has already exceeded its page count during President Trump’s first year in office, with more than a month to spare and…
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Ex-Im Reauthorization Vote Today in the House
The House of Representatives will vote on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank today. Even if Ex-Im is reauthorized, the fight over it has already yielded a…
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Two New Studies on Economics of Trade
Philip Thompson and Lorenzo Montanari have compiled a Trade Barrier Index, just released by the Property Rights Alliance. The U.S. currently ranks 54th out of…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new regulations this year passed 2,500 last week, and the Federal Register surpassed 60,000 pages. This week could see big news on…
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Trump Administration Begins Withdrawal from Paris Climate Treaty
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on November 4th that, “Today the United States began the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Per the terms of…
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VIDEO: Growth and Opportunity in the Beehive State
I’ve been interested in the work at the Center for Growth and Opportunity (CGO) at Utah State University for some time now, and I was…
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Will Trump ‘SAFE’ Rule for New Cars Harm Public Health?
Will the Trump administration’s auto rule harm public health? That’s what all five majority witnesses and several Democratic members of the House Oversight Environment Subcommittee…
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Environmental Protection Agency Proposes Appeals Board Reform
The Trump administration has placed a high priority on shortening the delays and cutting the red tape holding back many private sector development projects. The Environmental…
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Trade Developments on Export-Import Bank and NAFTA/USMCA
America’s trade policy landscape has some big events on the horizon. The House of Representatives will vote next week on Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) Export-Import…
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Tobacco 21: Feel-Good Policy Could Backfire
Amid an outbreak of “vaping-linked” lung illnesses, a campaign of fear against vaping has reached a frenzied peak. For years, the Food and Drug Administration…
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Proposals for and Problems with International Drug Reference Pricing
Healthcare costs remain top of mind in American politics. Polls consistently show that healthcare is one of, if not the top, priority for voters heading into the…
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Free-Market Groups Support Trump Light Bulb Reform
The Bush and Obama administrations imposed a number of restrictions on light bulbs, but the Trump administration is pushing back on behalf of consumers. Today,…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Washington had one of its best weeks in recent memory. The Nationals won the World Series, and Congress is taking the next two weeks off.
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Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Update
It is busy a time right now in the Export-Import Bank reauthorization battle. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced a new bill to reauthorize the Export-Import…
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A Federally Funded Witches’ Brew of Dangerous Advice
Halloween is the one day of the year kids enjoy being a little spooked. But what would you think about a taxpayer-sponsored effort to frighten…
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Twitter’s Ban on Political Ads Has No First Amendment Implications
Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey announced that the social media platform will ban all political advertising. This comes on the heels of Facebook’s recent announcement…
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The Unmeasured Costs of Federal Agency Liberation from Congress, Self-Funding, and Permanence
In considering the overall costs of regulation, little attention is given to the intractability of the administrative state itself. Congress shows little appetite for restraining…
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Major Auto Companies Auto Dealers Back Trump Fuel Economy Rule
On October 29, Marlo Lewis testified before the House Oversight Environment Subcommittee on the Trump administration’s Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule. As he noted,…
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Spooky Halloween Regulations
Halloween is this week. That means costumes, spooky decorations, trick-or-treating, and pumpkin spice everything. The Code of Federal Regulations contains several rules to keep everything…
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Just in Time for Halloween: Climate Scares Debunked
Sharing scary stories is Halloween tradition and this time of the year reminds us of some folks who try to strike fear in the hearts…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Washington Nationals made it to the World Series, and the White House canceled some of its newspaper subscriptions. Meanwhile, rulemaking agencies published new regulations…
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VIDEO: How to Build a Political System to Protect Liberty
Our friends at Learn Liberty have started releasing new videos again, and we couldn’t be more excited. One of the most recent, “3 Different Ways…
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Trump Administration Challenges Constitutionality of California Climate Pacts
Just when I thought the Trump administration could not get any bolder in challenging California’s self-anointed power to determine national climate policy, the Department of…
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CEI Report: Universities Misuse Federal Children’s Environmental Health Grants to Pursue Political Agenda
For more than two decades the federal government has funded a number of “children’s environmental health centers.” Since they are housed in universities, you might…
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Celebrate Consumer Finance Law Modernization
Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it will create a taskforce to “harmonize and modernize federal consumer financial laws.” The Taskforce…
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Deep State Guide to Resisting Trump’s Executive Orders on Guidance Document Abuse
Competitive Enterprise Institute founder and “despairing optimist” Fred L. Smith, Jr. lamented to me once: “It’s so hard to centrally plan deregulation!”…
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Cautiously Optimistic about Facebook’s New Approach to Speech
It seems increasingly the case that there is a lot more to like about what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has to say than not. His…
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House Panel Holds Hearing to Bash Exxon
The House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties today held a hearing to examine “the oil industry’s efforts to suppress the truth about climate…
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West Antarctic Ice Sheet Growing As Southern Ocean Warms Slightly
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is growing, but I bet you didn’t read about it in the news.
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Stop State Government Abuse of Clean Water Act
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute led a coalition letter in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule, “Updating Regulations on Water Quality Certification.” The rule would…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week’s big stories included a thickening impeachment plot, Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s resignation, and a letter written to the president of Turkey. In a…
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VIDEO: How Does the Trade War Hurt You?
Our friends over at the Cato Institute are known for their excellent free-market analysis, in particular on hot button issues like trade. They recently released…
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Repeal of Trump Power Plant Rule Fails in Senate
The U.S. Senate today defeated by 53-41 a Democrat-sponsored Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that aims to overturn the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule,…
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United States, Carbon Tax Laggard?
The United States “lags” other nations’ use of carbon taxes, ClimateWire (subscription required) reports. Specifically, the United States ranks 40th out of 44 countries in…
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Are Hurricanes Becoming Blow-Hards?
Last month, as Tropical Storm Imelda slowly dissipated over south Texas, creating yet another Texas-sized flood, I read an article in Business Insider making the…
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In Praise of Pro-Consumer Tenure of Finance Regulator Kraninger
As she prepares to give her semi-annual testimony to Congress this week—on Wednesday to the House Financial Services Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and on Thursday…
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CEI Leads Coalition Letter Supporting Airport Financing Reform
Today CEI led a coalition letter in support of H.R. 3791, the “Investing in America: Rebuilding America’s Airport Infrastructure Act,” the bipartisan airport financing reform legislation…
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Killing Us with Kindness: Democrats’ War on Vaping Costs Lives
Liberals are supposed to the ones whose hearts “bleed” with concern for others’ welfare. That’s why modern liberals generally reject an abstinence-only approach to regulation.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The latest Mad Libs-style political feud involves the NBA, the television cartoon South Park, and the Chinese government. President Trump also issued a pair of…
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California Utility Cuts Power to Avoid Fires Caused by Downed Power Lines
Pacific Gas and Electric has intentionally turned off electricity to up to two million people in parts of northern California for hours and days at…
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President Trump Signs Executive Orders to Improve Use of Guidance Documents
President Donald J. Trump on October 9th signed two executive orders (EOs) intended to improve and limit the use of guidance documents. This is good,…
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‘Art of the Deal’ Meets Renewable Fuel Standard
It’s the ultimate dealmaker versus the ultimate dealmaking challenge. President Trump has again sought changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that he hopes both…
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More Shields and Fewer Swords in Realm of Federal Regulation
Yesterday the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) held a fascinating event on one of their marquee cases, Baldwin v. United States (read more in my…
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Software Solutions for Regulatory Reform?
On Friday, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State held a fascinating conference, “The Administration of Democracy,” which covered issues…
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Labor Relations Chief Corrects Record on ‘Joint Employer’ Rule
Chairman John Ring delivered the latest salvo in response to the manufactured “scandal” at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Democrats, with help from the…
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Costs of Economic Distortions Caused by ‘Ordinary’ Federal Spending, Subsidies, and Stimulus
While routine ground-level federal spending is less glamorous than interventionist national agendas, socialization of properties and resources, or economic “stimulus” and “big science” crusades, the…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Non-impeachment news involved a major court ruling on net neutrality, plus a new tariff. This year’s Federal Register is on pace to surpass last year’s…
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Industry and Nonprofit Groups Urge Senate Support for ‘Clean’ Energy and Climate Bills
A number of industry trade associations plus some non-profit groups sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on…
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New $7.5 Billion Tariffs against European Union
The Trump administration has announced tariffs on $7.5 billion of goods from the European Union. This time, it is being done with the World Trade…
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Costs of Government Steering by Direct Ownership or Control of Resources
If one thinks government ought to run a sector of the economy (single-payer health care, education, retirement, energy), then almost by definition that individual would…
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Vast Regulatory Costs of Top-Down National Plans, Agendas, and Legislative Schemes
If government steers in some societal, industrial, or sector-specific endeavor via top-down national plans, agendas, or legislative schemes, it can generate ongoing regulatory costs even…
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Priorities for Department of Labor’s New Secretary
On September 30th, Eugene Scalia was sworn in as the 28th Secretary of Labor. Last week, the Senate confirmed Scalia on a 53-44 vote. With…
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New Study: Minimum Wages Have Tradeoffs
Congress nearly increased the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour this year. Though the Raise the Wage Act is unlikely to pass…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress is out of session for the next two weeks, and the impeachment investigation will likely dominate headlines for some time to come. Meanwhile, the…
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Environmental Protection Agency to California: Clean up Your Act
In two separate actions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week put California on notice that the state is violating federal air and water…
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VIDEO: Life Is Getting Better
Despite prominent headlines to the contrary, the world is not actually falling apart. As our friends at places like Human Progress tirelessly work to remind…
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New Civil Liberties Alliance Fighting for Constitutional Limits on Government Power
Thanks to the New Civil Liberties Alliance for hosting a great event this week, during which their staff attorneys recounted the status of some of…
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Federal Highway Administration to Rescind Outdated Patent Rules
The Federal Highway Administration announced it will rescind its World War I-era regulation governing the use of patented and proprietary materials in federal-aid highway projects.
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Like Socialism, Financial Transaction Tax Doomed to Fail
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith coins the four maxims of taxation: fairness, certainty, convenience, and efficiency. Smith’s maxims are used as a litmus…
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Feds: Gambling Fine, But Investing Too Risky
“In the risk reform debate, as in so many political debates, logic is often for losers.” So lamented Competitive Enterprise Institute founder and president emeritus…
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Antitrust Astroturf Activism
Not too long ago, I pointed out that antitrust regulation is often gamed by special interests and rent-seekers. A recent story in The Wall Street…
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Protect Consumers, But Let Debt Collectors Do Their Jobs
Debt collector seem to be the occupation everyone loves to hate, but without them businesses large and small—from banks to gyms to doctor’s offices—could not serve…
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Ex-Im Bank Reauthorization: Lesson in Institutional Design
For all its flaws, the Export-Import Bank’s charter gets an important thing right: the agency must be reauthorized every few years, or it will close.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The House passed a continuing resolution to avoid a federal shutdown until November 21st. The Senate will likely follow suit this week. The 2019 Federal…
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Progressive States Petition Court to Declare Trump Pre-emption Rule Unlawful
A California-led coalition of 24 states and three cities today petitioned the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to declare unlawful the Trump administration’s One National Program…
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VIDEO: Prosperity Is More Than Wages
In a new video for the PolicyEd channel, economist Russ Roberts takes on the popular—though misleading—narrative that ordinary working Americans haven’t made any real economic…
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Export-Import Bank Fight Not Over Yet
The Export-Import Bank’s charter is currently set to expire on September 30. If authorization lapses, the agency will shut down. On Thursday, the House passed…
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Trump Administration Terminates California’s Unlawful Power over Auto Industry
Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the first step towards finalizing…
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Ex-Im Bank Reauthorization: Major Victory against Cronyism, Despite Setback
Nobel laureate economist Ronald Coase wrote in his 1975 essay “Economists and Public Policy” that “An economist who, by his efforts, is able to postpone…
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In Its Stores, Walmart Behaves the Same Way Amazon Does and No One Cares
This week, The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive story detailing how Amazon uses its algorithms to prioritize its brands and products that are more…
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Wrong Again: 50 Years of Failed Eco-pocalyptic Predictions
Modern doomsayers have been predicting climate and environmental disaster since the 1960s. They continue to do so today. None of the apocalyptic predictions with due…
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UPDATE: Big Picture in ‘Vaping-Linked’ Lung Poisonings
Over the last three months, the news has been filled with stories of people falling ill from a mystery lung ailment supposedly caused by vaping.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress returned from recess, the Democratic presidential candidates had a debate, and the 2019 federal deficit topped $1 trillion with a month left to go…
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Greenpeace Disrupters Arrested for Shutting Down Houston Ship Channel
Ahead of the September 12th Democratic presidential primary debate, activists from the group Greenpeace were arrested after pulling a stunt that briefly held Houston commuters hostage…
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Policy Circle 4th Annual Leadership Summit Coming to Chicago
There are a lot of useful conferences, meetings, and conventions that fill our calendars, and one that we're especially looking forward to this year is the Policy Circle’s…
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Automaker Antitrust Investigation Wrong Way to Fight Cartels
Cartels need government support because they contain the seeds of their own destruction. Self-interested companies acting selfishly naturally undo their own cartels.
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Lead State in Big Tech Antitrust Suit Misleadingly Inflates Google’s Size
In The Wall Street Journal today, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is spearheading a multistate antitrust investigation into Google, made an egregious error.
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Unleash Markets to Reduce Traffic Congestion
Congestion is a persistent and growing problem facing America’s road networks. The challenge facing policy makers is how to address this growing problem. Given that…
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Getting My Bearings in Taipei: Personally and Politically
Key Insight of the Day: While not every aspect of life in Taiwan is dominated by the relationship with the People’s Republic of China, every…
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California to Eliminate Independent Work
Late Tuesday evening, the California legislature passed controversial legislation that would codify a state Supreme Court decision, which adopted a flawed test that effectively prohibits…
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Reform Proposal Addresses Cronyism in Government-Backed Mortgages
Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued an executive memorandum directing the Department of the Treasury to “develop a plan for administrative and legislative reforms” of…
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Sharing Insights and Observations from the Road: A Travelogue
This week I’m in Taiwan as a part of a delegation of free-market trade experts. I’ll write short posts for the Competitive Enterprise Institute team…
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Unknown Societal Costs of Imposing Regulation Based on Secret (or Creatively Leveraged) Data
From the food pyramid and dietary guidelines, to vaping policies, to the Progressive zeal for eugenics, humility-challenged administrative experts can be mistaken, can mislead, or…
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Trump Administration Pushes Back on California’s Fuel Economy Scheming
Since at least March 2018, the Trump administration and the state of California have been engaged in a legal and political struggle over the stringency…
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Study on Export-Import Bank: Repeal Is Best, Other Reforms Can Help
The Export-Import Bank is up for reauthorization by September 30. It should be shut down, as I’ve pointed out before, but reauthorization will almost certainly…
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Gene Editing Can Improve Health Outcomes for the Poor
Gene editing, specifically somatic gene therapy, cures maladies with traceable genetic origins. This revolutionary science is rapidly advancing, but not without major setbacks. Regulations designed…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
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,…