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.
Featured Posts
Blog
Spirit Airlines shows mergers may prevent bankruptcies and bailouts
In 2024, Spirit Airlines, financially troubled since the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, sought a lifeline through a merger with JetBlue Airways. Although neither…
Blog
An easy win possible on affordability for California regulators
Whether “affordability” is a serious policy prescription or just a campaign buzzword remains to be seen, but California’s Public Utilities Commission has a golden…
Blog
The market has spoken: Consumers define the relevant video market
Washington loves drama, and recent debates over video industry consolidation have delivered plenty – billions of dollars at stake, congressional theatrics, and political posturing.
Search Posts
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing New Broadband Middle Mile Funding
Dear Member of Congress, On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the undersigned organizations, we write in opposition to any…
Bloomberg Law
California Follows Europe’s Lead on USB-C Mandate for Devices
Bloomberg Law cites Research Fellow Alex Reinauer on the USB-C mandate. The environmental arguments for the bill are mostly…
News Release
Ideologically Driven Attack on Tech Mergers and Acquisitions Threatens Innovations for Consumers and U.S. Position as Global Tech Leader
In a new Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) study, technology policy expert Jessica Melugin writes that concern about “killer acquisitions” – a market leader…
Study
M&As Are A-Okay
Fretting about “killer acquisitions” and “kill zones” is common among regulators in Washington these days, but entrepreneurs and investors at work in the tech…
News Release
FTC Antitrust Overreach Threatens Health of Americans at Risk of Cancer Diagnosis
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today ordered Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail, a $7 billion deal that would add an early…
News Release
RESTRICT Act Threatens Americans’ First Amendment Rights
Debate in Congress over calls to ban Chinese social media platform TikTok has led to the introduction of the RESTRICT Act by Senator Mark…
Blog
After Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Merge?
Did antitrust ideology play a role in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the slight contagion that destabilized the global banking system…
Blog
Rep. Duncan Leads Letter Expressing Concern over Foreign Regulatory Overreach
I’ve written before about the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, its main antitrust regulator. It has already blocked one US company from taking over…
Blog
Some Things are Just Business, Not Politics – and That’s a Good Thing
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was the predictable venue for Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy to portrait DirecTV’s recent decision to stop carrying the…
Blog
Trust, but Verify via Congressional Oversight
Is the Federal Trade Commission’s request that Twitter hand over the names of “all journalists and other members of the media to whom” the…
Blog
Congress must ensure more efficient and transparent broadband funding
Improved Internet connectivity can help reduce socioeconomic inequality at home and improve America’s global economic competitiveness abroad. Thanks to growing private investment, competition, and…
News Release
Report: Right to Repair Laws Undermine Consumer Interests, Raise Security Concerns
Should consumers have the legal right to repair their own stuff? A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute discusses repair rights consumers have…
Study
Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right to Repair
Should you have the legal right to fix your own stuff? At first glance, the answer would seem like a simple “yes.” That simple…
Blog
Collusion Is Harmful and Illegal—Except When a Federal Agency Does It?
The Wall Street Journal reports today, thanks to FOIA requests by the Chamber of Commerce, that it appears the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)…
News Release
New CEI Paper Warns Against Turning Back the Clock on Antitrust Merger Guidelines
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) published a new paper today reviewing the evolution of merger screening at federal antitrust agencies and warning…
Study
Turning Back the Clock: Structural Presumptions in Merger Analyses and Revised Merger Guidelines
Introduction Since 1950, when Congress closed a loophole in Section 7 of the Clayton Act,[1] the federal antitrust agencies have investigated actively, and prosecuted diligently, mergers the…
National Review
FTC Runs into the Judicial Wall
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust crusade has run into an obstacle: the judiciary. Indeed, the agency wants to expand its authority and broaden enforcement standards…
News Release
CEI TV Ad “Versus” to Run Sunday During NBC’s Meet the Press as Part of Eye on FTC Campaign
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will run a 30 second television ad as part of its Eye on FTC campaign on…
News Release
Why DOJ’s Antitrust Suit Against Google’s Digital Ad Business Misses the Mark
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Google today, a division of parent company Alphabet, alleging the company has a monopoly over…
Citation
FDA’s Medical Interference, Time for ESG Antitrust Action and other commentary
Libertarian: FDA’s Medical Interference The Wall Street Journal quoted Joel Zinberg on FDA banning practices: “Secreted within the 2023…
Fox Business
VIDEO: CEI’s Jessica Melugin Joins Fox Business to Discuss McCarthy’s Actions as Speaker & Big Tech Collusion
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation Jessica Melugin reacts to Kevin McCarthy’s decision to remove Dems from committees and White House-FBI-Big Tech…
News Release
House GOP Oversight of Alleged Collusion Between Government and Technology Companies More Productive than Anti-Tech Legislation
The new Republican House Majority will reportedly charge a new select committee with providing oversight of communications about content moderation decisions between technology…
Blog
Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Faces Needless Challenges
Emboldened antitrust bureaucrats on both sides of the Atlantic are flexing their muscles with challenges to Microsoft’s planned acquisition of the game developer Activision,…
Products
Corporate Governance
Retirement Security Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which governs private pensions, in 1974, in response to widespread concerns at the time…
News Release
CEI Releases Pro-Growth Regulatory Reform Agenda for the 118th Congress
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) offered a set of important policy reforms for the 118th Congress to consider when it convenes…
Products
Free to Prosper: Antitrust
Efforts to expand the scope and enforcement of antitrust law are playing out on a global scale and, so far, have mostly targeted large technology…
Products
Free to Prosper: Online Speech and Section 230
Section 230 of the Telecommunications Decency Act of 1996 governs liability online. It clarifies that the creator of speech, not its carrier, bears legal responsibility…
Blog
The Federal Trade Commission Is in Dire Need of an Intervention
In recent years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has become increasingly aggressive in its antitrust actions and policies. This expansion will be harmful to…
Barrons
Opinion: Two App Stores Don’t Make a Monopoly
Elon Musk and others’ complaints about the fees Apple and Google ‘s App Stores charge developers are putting…
National Review
Antitrust’s Cloudy Crystal Ball
Even in the wake of Meta’s biggest mass layoff ever and a $71 billion loss this year, antitrust regulators around the world are peering into…
Blog
The Unfairness of the FTC’s Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition
The latest in a stream of regulatory dark matter is the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) November 10, 2022 “Policy Statement Regarding the…
Blog
Not Your Grandfather’s Bank Branch
What should financial services do? And how should they look like going forward as they try to serve more people? Some presenters are…
National Review
The Supreme Court Gets Another Chance to Rein in the Administrative State
The Constitution vests its executive power in the president of the United States. But in the 1935 case of Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., the Supreme Court…
National Review
American Corporations Haven’t Changed. Economists Have
We are at an odd point in American political history, where the traditional conflict between right and left has mutated into a fight between centralization…
Blog
Meta’s Drop in Stock Price Unlikely to Dissuade Antitrust Inquiries, but It Should.
“We don’t even know what it is yet.” That’s how the theatrical depiction of Mark Zuckerberg described “The Facebook” to his then co-founder…
Blog
New Whole-of-Government Initiative on Junk Fees Comes with Unintended Consequences
Today the Biden administration announced a new whole-of-government initiative on junk fees from airlines and other industries. The news comes on the same…
Blog
Not a Policy Paper, Just a Thought: Anti-Merger Mania
What is the correct number of corporate mergers that should be allowed? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) thinks it knows the answer: less. It…
Issues in Insights
A Supermarket Merger Is Not A Threat To Humanity
Grocery store giants Kroger and Albertsons have announced a proposed merger, but it’s a business combination that will likely come under undue antitrust scrutiny. Before…
News Release
Kroger Merger with Albertsons Would Allow More Competitive Pressure on Other Market Leaders
Kroger announced a deal today to merge with Albertsons, which would combine the nations’ two largest chains of grocery stores into one company.
Blog
FTC Hearing on Vaping Case Shows Antitrust at its Worst
Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a public hearing about a seemingly resolved antitrust case about the vaping market. In…
Blog
Virtual Reality and the Relevant Market Fallacy
The relevant market fallacy is one of the most common analytical mistakes in antitrust policy. One of the first legal questions in an…
National Review
Virtual Reality and the Relevant-Market Fallacy
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is at a crossroads. Its main social-media platform is declining under heavy competition and faces twin federal and …
Politico
Twitter Whistleblower Faces the Senate. Then What?
Politico cites Director for the Center for Technology and Innovation Jessica Melugin on congressional hearings on the tech industry: “I am…
News Release
Judge Rules Illumina-Grail Merger is Legal Despite FTC Antitrust Accusations
In a decision reached today, an administrative judge ruled that a proposed merger between Illumnia and Grail can proceed after ruling against a…
Blog
The Facebook Antitrust Case Is Aging Poorly
Antitrust cases often take years to litigate. While wasteful, this isn’t always a bad thing. The politics surrounding a case might stay the same,…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on Proposed Antitrust Bills that Would Harm Consumers
We, the undersigned economic, legal, and public policy experts, write to express concern overlegislative and executive branch proposals aimed at dramatically expanding government antitrustand…
National Interest
Anti-Trust Bills Will Harm U.S. Consumers and National Security
Proposed antitrust bills aimed at Big Tech will inadvertently put individual users and national security at risk. Three policies within the proposed legislation are especially…
National Review
U.K. Regulator Deservedly Loses Case against Meta
The recent announcement of the final verdict in the U.K.’s case to block Meta’s acquisition of GIF library Giphy is a partial victory…
Blog
Current Antitrust Proposals No “Laffing” Matter
A new report by Laffer Associates released today, Read ‘Em and Weep: How the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S. 2992) and…
National Review
How the New FTC Majority Will Rewrite Antitrust Laws without Congress
As time runs out for major antitrust legislation on Capitol Hill, the Federal Trade Commission emerges as the last, best hope for neo-Brandeisians looking for…
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 and Director of Publications
- 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