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Blog
Predicting a brighter regulatory future for prediction markets
CEI scholars have many skills, but predicting the future is not one of them. However, when it comes to prediction markets, based on recent events,…
Blog
ESG refugees: Ally with taxpayers
Yesterday the Competitive Enterprise Institute published my new study with John Mozena, “Corporate Social Irresponsibility: After ESG, activist investors should side with…
The Hill
5 things to know about the latest inflation report
The Hill cited CEI’s expert on Trumps tariffs and inflation Additionally, many of Trump’s tariffs apply to component parts rather than finished consumer goods. The…
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Foundation for Economic Education
Why Is the Middle Class So Angry?
The middle class is angry. Feeling left out of sharing in the nation’s prosperity the way they used to, they are increasingly turning to…
Blog
Is GE a Capitalist Good Guy or a Corporate Bad Guy?
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt has an interesting op-ed today in the Washington Post, hitting back against charges that his company is “destroying…
Daily Signal
8 Questions for PayPal on Its Decision to Boycott North Carolina
The Daily Signal discusses a North Carolina law with Hans Bader. The new North Carolina law also requires cities and localities to follow…
Law360
Alaska Air, Virgin America Face Bumpy Antitrust Ride
CEI Fellow Marc Scribner speaks to Law360 about a proposed merger between Alaska Air and Virgin America: “If you look at their…
Palmetto Business Daily
Land use expert warns of property rights infringement by “unelected bureaucrats” on the Charleston BAR
The Palmetto Business Daily discusses property rights infringement by the Charleston Board of Architectural Review with Marc Scribner. “The unelected bureaucrats on the…
Blog
Freedom of Contract at Risk in Carcano v. McCrory
Virginia’s Dillon rule prevents cities and counties from regulating the employment practices of private businesses. That bars them from setting minimum wages higher than…
Daily Signal
NBA’s Threatening North Carolina Is Textbook Cultural Cronyism
The Daily Signal references Hans Bader's writing on a bill in North Carolina pertaining to employment regulations. The second provision—the employment provision—is simply a…
CNS News
Skittish About ‘Capitalism’ – But Who Is Really Rigging the Game?
This political season, Americans are skittish about capitalism. Some fear it will create inequality and wage stagnation, while others simply lack clarity on what capitalism…
Foundation for Economic Education
Government Targets the App Economy
The sharing economy promises such radical change that economist Klaus Schwab is calling it The Fourth Industrial Revolution. But unlike the previous revolutions, its…
Forbes
Three Decades On, The Fight For Economic Freedom Continues
Americans want honorable, thoughtful government but are no longer sure that result is possible. Government has now grown so gigantic, arrogant, powerful, and pervasive that…
Watchdog.org
Have conservatives been hypocritical on cronyism?
Watchdog.org reports on a CPAC panel discussion on cronyism moderated by Bill Frezza. Bill Frezza, host of the Real Clear Radio Hour, kicked…
Blog
UnChartered Cronyism: The FCC’s Attempts to Block Cable Merger
When you hear about “crony capitalism,” what comes to mind? The Export-Import Bank? The ethanol mandate? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Tax credits and loan…
National Review
Are There Economic Policy Answers to Trump Voters’ Woes?
Tim Carney, in the Washington Examiner, well sums up the main grievances of both Trump and Sanders voters: the lack of prospects facing blue collar…
Blog
Market Dominance Doesn’t Last; Regulation Shouldn’t Either
One of the justifications for heavy regulation of large companies is that they use market power to crush competition and maintain market dominance. Yet the…
The Freeman
Why Government Should Not Regulate the App Economy
In Damon Runyon’s Broadway stories (and in the musical Guys and Dolls), a gambler named Nathan Detroit hosts New York’s oldest established floating crap game,…
Craft Brewing Business
AB-InBev buys UK’s Camden Town Brewery, crowdfunding investors score big
Craft Brewing Business mentions John Berlau's article on how crowdfunding provides opportunities for craft breweries. The article (nicely written by John Berlau) goes on…
Blog
Three Economists Had the Answer to the President’s Questions
Last night at the State of the Union, the President asked three questions regarding domestic policy (I’ll leave the foreign policy question to others). They…
Reuters
“Too Big to Fail” Policy Failing Small Banks: NCPA
Reuters reports on John Berlau's new study for the National Center for Policy Analysis, that explores the failures of the "to big to fail" docrtine and what Congress should…
Forbes
How Cars Saved The Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 5, 1955, was a key date in the struggle to eliminate racial segregation laws in the United States. On that date, the African American…
Forbes
Congress Is A Terrible Business Partner
We are beginning to see the unraveling of the Faustian bargain that private health insurance companies made with the Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress…
Blog
Much to Be Thankful For
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and all of us have much to be thankful for. Over at Inside Sources, I have a Julian Simon-inspired take on the…
Blog
Thanksgiving: Massachusetts Discovers Property Rights
Thanksgiving is a day layered in tradition and myth. The standard story makes much of the creative efforts of our ancestors, the assistance provided by…
Blog
A Fundamental Misunderstanding of Free Enterprise
Today, in The Guardian, columnist Zoe Williams repeats an idea often advanced by progressives, that entrepreneurial activity is dependent on the action of others, especially “government,”…
Blog
Anti-Capitalism on Campus
Prof. Brad Thompson of Clemson University writes this week in Minding the Campus on the impact of corporate donations to institutions of higher education. In particular, he describes…
Blog
Calling All Public Choice Scholars
Earlier this month the Cato Institute generously hosted a small roundtable discussion of CEI’s recent study “Virtuous Capitalism: Why there Is Less Corruption in…
Blog
Virtuous Capitalism in Theory and Practice
Government is responsible for billions and billions of dollars of corruption and corporate welfare. Considering the potential returns on investment compared to honest entrepreneurship, it…
Forbes
Virtuous Capitalism In Theory And Practice
Capitalism has a bad reputation. Many people see it as corrupt, uncaring, and in bed with politicians. And popular wisdom isn’t always wrong. For example,…
Foundation for Economic Education
How the State Keeps You Working Long Hours
Entrepreneur Tim Ferriss found he had a mega-hit on his hands with his 2007 book, The 4-Hour Workweek, a paean to a new attitude toward…
National Review
Why Liberals Secretly Love Corporations
Iain Murray, in his article for the National Review, investigates why the Left pushes regulatory policies that support the old corporate structure even though this is contrary to…
Blog
Sell a Kidney, Save a Life
Last week I blogged about the idea that some things should not be part of a market economy, and highlighted one rather silly example of…
The Freeman
Depression-Era Laws Threaten the Sharing Economy
Imagine you’re driving for Uber or Lyft. As an independent contractor, you enjoy setting your own work hours, picking up people you like chatting with…
Blog
Virtuous Capitalism, or, Why So Little Rent-Seeking?
The venerable Fred Smith and I have a new paper out today. Click here to read it. In the paper, we try to solve the Tullock…
Business Ethics Highlights
CEI: There’s Less Corruption In Business Than You Think
The Business Ethics Highlights features CEI's article on rent-seeking. If the data show rent-seeking behavior by firms to be so effective, why don’t…
Blog
ABI MillerCoors Merger Won’t Harm the Craft Beer Movement
The folks at Food & Water Watch are pissed. And I don’t mean “pissed” as in drunk; they are mad as hell about the proposed…
Blog
Betting on the Future: 25 Years Later
Today is the 25th anniversary of the famous bet between economist Julian Simon and biologist Paul Ehrlich over the price of five metals: chromium, copper,…
Blog
Free Enterprise: Sometimes We Forget
When we find ourselves debating specific issues having to do with economics and business, we often forget how overwhelming the evidence is for the superiority…
Study
The Case Against the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Full Document Available in PDF The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is a U.S. federal government agency with three key policy objectives:…
Blog
A First Look at Markets without Limits
Georgetown University professors Jason Brennan and Pete Jaworski (left) have a new book out with a fascinating premise: anything that it is morally permissible…
Blog
Feds Double Down on Failed Affordable Housing Mandates
Federal affordable housing mandates do little to increase homeownership rates, but they did help cause a devastating financial crisis in 2008 by encouraging risky lending. Yet the Federal…
Blog
The FTC Targets Apple Music: Part III
This is the third in a series of essays on the FTC’s investigation of Apple Music. In Part II of this series, we demonstrated that, even…
Blog
The Government Makes a Terrible Boyfriend
He’s from the government, and he’s here to help. That’s the comic premise of this summer’s best YouTube video series, “Love Gov,” from the…
Blog
Mount Vernon Cheers: A Song to Commemorate “I, Whiskey”
Our Indiegogo campaign for CEI’s new documentary “I Whiskey” is closing soon. So far, we have raised almost $75,000, but it’s not over yet.
Blog
William Faulkner Said it Best: “Civilization Begins with Distillation”
"Making whiskey is but one piece of the Great Story of Spirits. The Big Picture is the story of incremental progress, of continual innovation by…
Blog
Why Thieves Hate Free Markets
Don Boudreaux over at Café Hayek has just given a 2015 boost to a smart 2012 video from Learn Liberty on social cooperation in…
Blog
The FTC Targets Apple Music: Part II
This is the second in a series of essays on the FTC’s investigation of Apple Music. Part I discussed the reason for the FTC’s investigation as…
Blog
The FTC Targets Apple Music: Part I
When launching a new product, the goal is to create excitement, as any company will tell you. But Apple’s newly launched music streaming service, Apple…
Blog
Bastiat Society Rallies Business Leaders Together
My venerable colleague Fred Smith and I just returned from the Hoosier State, where we were honored to be guests of the Indianapolis chapter of the …
WND
The Obama-Clinton Cloward-Piven legacy
The WND cites CEI`s Bill Frezza on Obama`s welfare reforms: In his Forbes article, “Deconstructing Obamanomics: What is the Real Goal?,” Bill Frezza, an MIT…
Blog
The Persistent Truth of Income Mobility
There’s a lot being written these days about income (and wealth) inequality, and how a free market economy allegedly exacerbates the divide between the rich and…
Blog
What Cartoons Can Teach Us about Capitalism
The Freeman has an excellent article by FEE advisory board member Robert Anthony Peters on economic lessons in popular culture—in this case focusing on the wealthiest…
