Consumers get forgotten in all the politics. The best way to protect consumers is to protect an open, competitive market process, in which companies succeed or fail based not on their political connections or ideological correctness, but on how well they serve consumers.
Antitrust regulation’s problems are structural and incurable. The Competitive Enterprise Institutes advocates abolishing antitrust law, removing remaining government monopolies, and preventing the creation of new ones.
Featured Posts
News Release
DOJ’s suit to breakup Live Nation-Ticketmaster will not lead to lower prices for entertainment
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit today against Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, alleging anticompetitive behavior. The DOJ lawsuit seeks to…
News Release
Radical change at Biden FTC leads to busted norms, new agenda facing skeptical judiciary: CEI paper
In July 2021, President Biden signed an executive order on competition policy, calling the previous 40 years of bipartisan agreement on the issue “an experiment…
Study
Achieving Change at the Federal Trade Commission
Introduction “Never mistake activity for achievement.” – John Wooden Although small in budget, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sometimes had an outsized impact. Created to fulfill one of…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Black Gold: Syriana soars on substance, sinks on politics.
Syriana opens with a throng of Arab men quarreling over the right to board a bus. The camera peers at the scene through…
Op-Eds
Point, Counterpoint: Wal-Mart on DVD
Documentary film has long been mired in debates about objectivity. Once strived for amongst serious documentarians, the notion of an objective documentary slowly degraded as…
Op-Eds
The Long REACH of the EU
The European Union's Council of Ministers is expected to vote soon on the proposed chemicals regulation called REACH, an acronym for Registration, Evaluation, and…
News Release
Bill Clinton’s Shifting Policy on Climate Change
Contacts: Marlo Lewis, 202.669.6693 (Montréal) Myron Ebell, 202.320.6685 (<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C.)…
Op-Eds
Who’s afraid of big business?
Everybody agrees, it seems, that big business has too much influence in Washington. Most people are confused, however, as to what big business is doing…
Op-Eds
A Windfall of Bad Ideas
In the third-quarter of 2005, the major U.S. oil companies—ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Shell Oil Company—collectively earned almost $26 billion in profits, an…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. TELECOMMUNICATIONS The Federal Communications Commission is expected to announce renewed efforts toward forcing cable companies…
News Release
CEI Experts Available on UN Global Warming Talks
Contacts: (<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />U.S.) Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252 (Montreal) Richard Morrison, 202.441.9652 Washington,…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HEALTH & SAFETY Drug maker Merck & Co. announces layoffs of 7,000 workers amid uncertainty surrounding…
Op-Eds
An analog armageddon?
Hollywood movies are replete with bad guys nefariously plotting to control the world, but these days, music and movie industry associations are looking awfully…
Op-Eds
Cardiac arrest at the FDA
The photograph on your Tuesday front page headlined “Hillary health care” shows Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, in Jerusalem holding a CardioPump—a device…
News Release
Wal-Mart Critics Reading from an Old Script
Contact: Richard Morrison , 202.331.2273 Washington , D.C. , November 18, 2005—The success of retail giant Wal-Mart has generated criticism of its…
Op-Eds
The UN’s War Against Innovation
The leadership of the United Nations is truly the gang that can't shoot straight. Even if the recent incidents of corruption and profiteering—exemplified…
News Release
CEI to Host Congressional Seminar on Windfall Profits Taxes
UPDATE: Download a written transcript of the event, complete with PowerPoint slides, here (PDF format). Listen to a…
News Release
U.S. to U.N. in Tunisia: Hands Off the Internet
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” /> Contact: Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 Washington, D.C.,…
Letters
An Open Letter to Congress: Franchise Reform
Dear Member of Congress: Much has changed in the decade since Congress passed the 1996 Telecommunications Act. As Congress is considering changes and updates…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
1. TOBACCO The U.S. declines to ratify the World Health Organization’s anti-tobacco treaty which calls on countries to enact limits on…
News Release
Telecom Scores Merger Success — With Strings Attached
Washington, D.C., October 31, 2005—The Competitive Enterprise Institute welcomes the Federal Communications Commission’s decision approving the two major telecommunications mergers. Unfortunately, the conditions…
News Release
CEI to Co-sponsor CSR Reconsidered 2005
The CSR Reconsidered conference was a success. Human Events covered the conference and wrote about it here. ‘Wolves in CSR Clothing’ is…
Op-Eds
UNESCO to U.S.: Drop Dead!
Last Thursday, the United States was sucker-punched by an international organization. A majority of countries belonging to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and…
News Release
CEI Congressional Seminar: Tailoring Telecommunications Reform
Date: Friday, October 28, 2005<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Time: 12:00 – 2:00 pm <?xml:namespace prefix…
News Release
Trade Liberalization Again Threatened by Agricultural Special Interests
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., October 20, 2005— The world's best hope for eliminating poverty – the continued liberalization…
News Release
New Study Provides Outline for Telecom Reform
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., October 18, 2005—The rules that govern the telecommunications industry in the United States have…
News Release
Supreme Court Turns Away Justice Department Demand in Tobacco Lawsuit
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., October 17, 2005— The Supreme Court today rightly rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to…
News Release
New Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow to Join CEI
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Washington, D.C., October 12, 2005— The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce…
Products
Challenge to the State Attorney General-Tobacco Cartel
On August 2, 2005 the Competitive Enterprise Institute launched a legal challenge to the multi-state tobacco settlement of 1998. Nearly seven years after the settlement was…
Op-Eds
Tobacco Ruling Erodes Charter
In Thursday’s ruling in British Columbia v. Imperial Tobacco, the Supreme Court of Canada gravely eroded the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by…
News Release
Statement from CEI Counsel Hans Bader on Today’s Ruling in British Columbia v. Imperial Tobacco
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, DC, September 29, 2005—In today’s ruling in British Columbia v. Imperial Tobacco, the Supreme Court…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HURRICANE KATRINA President Bush addresses the nation from New Orleans, pledging additional assistance to areas…
Op-Eds
Tobacco Deal-Breaker?
“No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, . . . enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State.” —- U.S. Constitution, Article I,…
Op-Eds
Suffocating Small Companies
The Washington Times is on target in pointing out the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s strangulation of small public companies in even more layers of red tape (“Relief…
Op-Eds
CAFTA, beneficios y despropósitos (Spanish), by Frances B. Smith
Washington (AIPE)- El Senado de Estados Unidos aprobó el acuerdo de libre comercio con Centroamérica y República Dominicana (CAFTA) el 30 de junio y…
Op-Eds
Slicing Telecom the Right Way: Making a Real Market is the Best Cure for Monopoly
Mergers involving SBC and Verizon and a recent Supreme Court decision exempting cable-modem companies from open-access regulation have reignited fears of market domination…
Op-Eds
Unraveling CAFTA: Lobbyists vs. free trade, by Frances Smith
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> The Bush administration is taking a risky tack to garner House support for…
Op-Eds
All Cost, No Benefit
Tomorrow, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on Sen. Jeff Bingaman's (D-N.M.) Climate and Economy Insurance Act. Originally…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LEGAL & CONSTITUTIONAL Property rights activists organize and a Montana Congressman introduces legislation to counter the Supreme…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENERGY The Senate passes major new energy legislation. From CEI: Director of Global Warming &…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Dispatch
Issues in the News 1. TECHNOLOGY Microsoft and the EU Competition Commission have apparently reached an agreement over the Commission’s 2004…
Study
The Revolution Spins toward More Regulation
Full document available in pdf format. …
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ANTITRUST Microsoft submits its final proposal for complying with the latest order by the…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ECONOMIC LIBERTY The union campaign against Wal-Mart expands in the Washington,…
Op-Eds
One Bundle, Many Antitrust Laws: The Dilemma for Digital Products
Alongstanding question in the software debate is whether operating systems and components such as browsers and media players are really separate products bundled as one or…
News Release
A Solution to the Grokster Copyright Debate?
Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns…
Study
The Price is Right—Or Better Be!
Full Document Available in PDF On the popular television game show “The…
News Release
Verizon & MCI : A Good Deal for Consumers
Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 …
Op-Eds
New Agenda Fails to Address Problems
George Bernard Shaw once observed that: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the…
Op-Eds
Different Technology, Similar Service
In the absence of competition, regulations serve to protect consumers against monopoly market power. This is, in theory, the reason why the telecommunications…
Products
Unbundling the Confusion over Declining Marginal Cost Pricing
Full Document Available in PDF Declining cost businesses must have ways…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: November 2004
Full Document Available in PDF In this issue: “Freeing the Biotech Revolution” by Henry…
News Release
EU Rules Against Innovation in Microsoft Case
Contacts: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 Clyde <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =…
Op-Eds
FCC Is Ignoring Impact of Wireless, Other Rivals for Telephone Service
In the absence of competition, regulations serve to protect consumers against monopoly market power. This is, in theory, the reason why the telecommunications local exchange…
Study
Threats to Competitiveness in a Political Environment
Full Document Available in PDF This essay may seem depressing, but…
Study
The Role of Business in the Modern World: Progress, Pressures and Prospects for the Market Economy
Foreward, acknowledgments, and…
Study
1984-2004: CEI’s 20 Year Report
Full Document Available in PDF A Message from the President CEI is…
Op-Eds
Antitrust: Sherman’s March Across the Globe
President Bush’s bipartisan Antitrust Modernization Commission held its first meeting in July. But after 114 years, America’s antitrust regulatory regime is overdue for burial, not…
Products
March Edition of CEI’s Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF “To Panic or Not to Pan? Farmed…
Op-Eds
A Cast of Thousands
In <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Hollywood's glory days, studios peppered movie posters with the words “cast of thousands” in bold…
Op-Eds
Even Trade Politics Can Be Local
Mark Vaile, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Australia's trade minister, is in town this week asking an uncomfortable question: “Will the…
Products
August Edition of CEI’s Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition: …
News Release
Merrill Lynch Rulings Show Serious Flaws in Wall Street Research Settlement
Contact for Interviews:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C.,…
News Release
Broadcast of “Corporate Aftershock” Book Forum
Watch a webcast of the forum on the new book, Corporate Aftershock: The Public Policy Lessons from the Collapse of Enron and Other Major…
News Release
CEI Files Comments on Proposed Travel Regulations
Full comments available in pdf format.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Contact for Interviews: …
News Release
FCC Should Repeal Media Ownership Rules
Contact for Interviews:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252 Washington, D.C., May…
Op-Eds
Avoid More Mandates
As more and more Americans become investors, paternalistic regulators are demanding greater disclosure by mutual funds to protect consumers from excessive brokerage commissions…
CEI Planet
February Edition of CEI Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition:…
News Release
Project On Technology And Innovation Expanding
Washington, D.C., February 12, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute is expanding its Project on Technology and Innovation with the addition of…
News Release
Public Interest Group Opposes Technology Mandates, Joins Alliance For Digital Progress
Washington, D.C., January 23, 2003—Now that we’ve solidly entered the Digital Age, how should intellectual property best be protected, through the marketplace…
Op-Eds
Orbitz: Good For Airlines, Good For Travelers
Orbitz started selling airline tickets over the Internet on June 1, 2001. It is owned by five major carriers and supported to a…
Op-Eds
An Emerging Area Of Reform
As the Enron debacle regrettably spurred Congress to pass campaign finance reform, here’s hoping that Rupert Murdoch’s outrageous campaign against the merger of…
Op-Eds
Orbitz Foes Trying To Stifle Competition
The Department of Transportation has launched still another investigation into Chicago-based Orbitz, the online source of travel information and reservations started up last June by…
Op-Eds
Settlement Implications For Microsoft
The settlement that Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice presented to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last Friday is good for the parties and represents…
Op-Eds
Government Goes Too Far On Microsoft Case
The 5 days since the release of the proposed settlement between Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice have seen a barrage…
Op-Eds
Government Pursues Microsoft Case It Has To Lose
Delong Op-Ed In TechCentralStation<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> The Antitrust Division and the state attorneys…
News Release
Statements On The Justice Department’s Decision Not To Seek A Microsoft Breakup
James L. Gattuso, Vice President for Policy, Competitive Enterprise Institute<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> “Today’s announcement…
News Release
Statements on the Microsoft Appeals Court Decision
James L. Gattuso<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Vice President for Policy Competitive Enterprise Institute …
Op-Eds
No Fool For Microsoft
Next February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will sit en banc for two days to hear the appeal of United States…
Op-Eds
Antitrust Threat to New Technologies: Pieler Op-Ed in Washington Times
Published in the Washington Times <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> October 16, 2000 Nothing…
Op-Eds
Put a Lid on Antitrust Zealots: Pieler Deseret News Op-Ed
Published in the Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT) <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Distributed by Scripps Howard…
Op-Eds
Delay is Not a Four-Letter Word: Gattuso Op-Ed in Washington Times
Published in the Washington Times <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> October 2, 2000 …
Op-Eds
Supreme Court Gives Reality A Chance To Catch Up To Politics: DeLong Op-Ed
Distributed by Bridge News Service<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> September 29, 2000 Headline: By…
Study
Ignorance Is Us: Toys, Music, and Antitrust Regulations
Decades ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had a reputation for using the antitrust laws to defend mom-and-pop stores against the retailing…
Products
An Instant Message to AOL’s Competitors
From the August/September 2000 issue of CEI UpDate In late July, the Federal Communiations Commission held a hearing on issues…
News Release
CEI Statement on the Microsoft Case
Washington, DC, June 7, 2000 – Today’s Microsoft verdict represents an unjustified assault on the information revolution and the welfare of consumers, in favor…
Op-Eds
James Gattuso Reviews “Winners, Losers and Microsoft”
Artemus Ward once remarked that the problem with the world isn’t what we don’t know: “It’s the things we know that just ain’t…
Products
Thoughts on the Passing Scene
From the Editor Protesting Without a Clue It’s been two months since Washington, DC, was overrun with mobs…
Products
Judge Greene of the 21st Century?
The Justice Department’s plan was simple. Just break up the company into separate firms, based upon product lines. The parts with monopoly or bottleneck…
Citation
Government Wants Control of MS
News Release
Bust Up Microsoft? CEI Weighs In
Statement of James L. Gattuso, Vice President, and Clyde Wayne Crews, Director, Competition and Regulation Policy, April 28, 2000 “The extreme plan…
Op-Eds
Break up Microsoft? (Letter to the Editor)
To the Editor: Of course Paul Krugman is right, that, along with the loss of a uniform standard that allows many kinds of software to…
Op-Eds
Anti-Trust Law For Dummies
There's a secret to anti-trust law, but learning it isn't likely to reassure a high tech investor pondering the implications of the Microsoft verdict. The…
Op-Eds
The US versus Microsoft: Winners and Losers — Melugin Op-Ed in Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Let Consumers – Not the Government – Play Favorites…
News Release
Microsoft Stands Up for Consumers and Innovation
Washington, DC, April 3, 2000 – Consumers and the Competitive Enterprise Institute today praised Microsoft for refusing to sell out consumers’ interests by settling…
Products
California, Here They Come
Last month, I briefly visited the San Francisco Bay area. I’ve been in the region numerous times during the past few years, and each…
Study
Antitrust Not On Internet Time: Microsoft Remedies Discount Serious Competitive Threats
Many have come to believe that the technology industry requires strict governmental policing of allegedly anti-competitive behavior. But today’s software and Internet companies…
Products
AOL Time Warner? Not Big Enough for Tomorrow’s Internet
The America Online-Time Warner alliance is important not just for its size nor for the synergy it may create. It demonstrates in the real…
Study
Windows and the “Applications Barrier to Entry”: Fact or Fantasy?
View Full Document as PDF Very soon, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is expected to issue his conclusions of law…
News Release
Public Interest Groups File deceptive Advertising Complaint Against Ben and Jerry’s
Citizens for the Integrity of Science and the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission today, accusing ice cream…
Products
In the Dark at Sun
Study
Microsoft Trial: The Heat is On
View Full Document as PDF This summer, the heat is on Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson even more than the rest of…
News Release
The Case Against The Case Against Microsoft: New Study Criticizes DOJ Case
Washington, DC, April 27, 1999 – Are Microsoft’s current business practices hurting consumers? A new study by Barry Fagin, Senior Fellow in Technology Policy…
Staff & Scholars
Richard Morrison
Senior Fellow
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Capitalism and Free Enterprise
Iain Murray
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
- Banking and Finance
- Trade and International
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
Jessica Melugin
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms
Alex Reinauer
Research Fellow
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Tech and Telecom