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Camelot and misuse of the public interest
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr has used the Communications Act’s public interest obligation to pressure broadcast licensees. This includes threatening ABC over…
News Release
Competitive Enterprise Institute documentary releases on YouTube November 19
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is pleased to announce that its award-winning documentary, Dear Mr. President: The Letters of Julia Sand, will premiere on…
DC Journal
Shutdown Lesson: Don’t Depend on D.C.
The federal shutdown is over. Here’s one big takeaway: We need to depend less on Washington. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food aid program’s…
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Blog
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…
Blog
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…
The Wall Street Journal
Free-Marketeers Have Taken Social Conservatives for Granted
For many free-market advocates, the recent conservative dalliance with noncapitalist policies has been as stunning as it has been swift. While President Trump’s antipathy to…
The Atlantic
The Problem With the State-Level Investigation of Google
The battlefield is getting crowded. European antitrust enforcers have been fighting America’s tech giants for years. In the U.S., both the Justice Department and Federal…
Blog
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…
CNS News
Ex-Im Bank Reauthorization Is Sadly All But Inevitable
Congress is back from its annual August recess. One of the top items on its agenda is reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, which has an expiring…
Blog
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…
Blog
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.
Blog
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.
Blog
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…
News Release
New CEI Paper Calls on Congress to Close or Reform Ex-Im Bank
A new paper released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) calls on Congress to either allow the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank to close entirely…
Blog
State Attorneys General Launch Antitrust Investigations, Forget ‘Relevant Market’ Fallacy
Facebook and Google are facing separate antitrust investigations from publicity-seeking state attorneys general from both parties. New York’s Democratic attorney general is heading a joint…
News Release
Tech Antitrust Probes Good Politics for State AGs, but Terrible for Consumers
According to reports, a group of state attorneys general are planning to launch antitrust probes into Facebook and Alphabet’s Google division. New York AG Leticia…
Blog
Welfare for Billionaires: Stadium Subsidies Are Pure Cronyism
Our old friend (and former Competitive Enterprise Institute journalism fellow) Tim Carney is doing excellent work at the American Enterprise Institute these days, where he…
Blog
Facebook’s $5 Billion Privacy Fine Almost Certainly Too High
Facebook has faced intense criticism from lawmakers and regulators since last spring, when The Observer and The New York Times reported that data from over…
The Hill
Facebook Audit Shows Conservatives Have the Social Media Company’s Attention
Facebook last week released the first portion of an independent report compiled by former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) addressing allegations of bias against conservatives by the…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Think Long Term, Not Just Short Term
Moore’s Law states that computing power doubles every year and a half or so. An antitrust case against IBM, by contrast, lasted for 13 years,…
Blog
David Koch (1940-2019), R.I.P.
Friend, philanthropist, inventor, and industrialist David Koch has died at the age of 79. He was a father and husband. Known best for his pro-liberty…
Blog
When Did Conservatives Stop Loving a Free Economy?
National Review contributor and rage-inducing controversialist Kevin Williamson has a new book out, “The Smallest Minority: Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politics,” which…
Blog
Sealand, from Pirate Radio to Seasteading
Setting up a sovereign free territory has long been a dream of libertarian mavericks, from the ill-fated Republic of Minerva to the nascent Free Republic…
Blog
Will T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Increase Prices?
Lots of things influence prices and, of course, not all are influenced by the same factors. However, the lawsuit filed by several state attorneys general…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Corruption and Rent-Seeking
Rent-seeking is economics jargon for chasing after unfair special favors from government. Businesses and individuals have a large menu of rent-seeking options to choose from,…
News Release
Facebook Report on Bias Overlooks Looming Threats of Speech Regulation
Facebook today released an interim report by former U.S. Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) examining claims by some conservatives of political bias on the part of…
Blog
Business Roundtable Restates Obvious: Stakeholders Matter (and Always Have)
There’s a flurry of news coverage this morning about the Business Roundtable releasing a new public statement on “the purpose of a corporation.” Whereas previous…
Blog
VIDEO: Why Beer Sucks in Socialist Countries
The trend of younger voters allegedly becoming more favorable to socialism has alarmed and chagrined many observers recently, from members of the New York Post…
Reason
Democrats Join Trump in Seeking Balance by Policing Speech
Reason cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on free speech and Section 230: Removing Section 230 protection from platforms that bureaucrats consider…
News Release
CBS-Viacom Merger Good Sign for Competition in the Multimedia Marketplace
Viacom and CBS today announced a merger that would combine the two entertainment companies into a single entity more able to compete with companies like…
News Release
CEI Experts: Delay on China Tariffs Shows Real Burden Is on Consumers
On news today that the US Trade Representative will delay new tariffs on some consumer items until Dec. 15, as well as exclude some products from tariffs.
Blog
VIDEO: Where the Regulatory State Came From
Our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation have a funny and insightful explainer video on the historical development of the regulatory state (also known as…
Blog
Limits of ‘Soft Law’ Approach to Tech Regulation
Can the regulation of new technology be voluntary and non-coercive? In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Mercatus Center law and technology analyst Jennifer Huddleston…
The Kevin Miller Show
Kevin Miller 6am 080819
CEI President and CEO Kent Lassman joined the Kevin Miller Show to discuss the state of the economy.
Blog
Response to State Lawsuit against T-Mobile/Sprint: Mergers Signal Dynamic Markets
The end of the first blog post in this series warned that the real result of a successful lawsuit to block the merger of Sprint…
Blog
VIDEO: Green New Deal’s Bad Science
This week the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a new study by CEI President Kent Lassman and Power the Future Executive Director Daniel Turner on the costs of the…
News Release
Banks, Credit Unions Should Not Be Threatened for Doing Business with Cannabis Industry
Cannabis businesses have real trouble securing banking services, due to the fact their product remains illegal under federal law. Today the Senate Banking Committee held…
News Release
Heavy-Handed Regulations Could Deny Consumers the Benefits of New Facebook Cryptocurrency
The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing todayfocused on Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, “Libra.” The hearing will consider the cryptocurrency’s impact on consumers, investors and…
Blog
The Middle Class Crisis That Wasn’t
Recently billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad calls for a wealth tax in The New York Times and fellow billionaire Ken Fisher responded in USA Today with a…
Blog
VIDEO: Break up the Antitrust Attack on Big Tech
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation hosted an interesting policy discussion on antitrust this week titled “Breaking Up Big Tech: Making Sense of the Debate.”…
Blog
Who Does More Damage to a Free Economy: Socialists or Cronyists?
Our friend Matt Mitchell of the Mercatus Center has a fascinating new article at Reason on how businesspeople feel about government favors and privileges. It…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Regulatory Uncertainty
Antitrust laws are not enforced to the letter. They are a matter of regulators’ and judges’ discretion. If they were applied literally, every business transaction…
Blog
CEI Annual Dinner 2019: Rebecca Dunn
The videos and transcripts are in from the the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th Anniversary Dinner and Reception. One of the most moving moments of the evening was…
Blog
CEI Annual Dinner 2019: Dave Barry
We here at the Competitive Enterprise Institute were excited when the funny and insightful writer Dave Barry agreed to deliver the keynote address at our 35th Anniversary…
Blog
CEI Annual Dinner 2019: Johan Norberg
It’s been a couple of weeks since the success of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th Anniversary Dinner and Reception, and I’m happy to finally be able…
Blog
CEI Annual Dinner 2019: Kent Lassman
All of the media content from the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th Anniversary Dinner and Reception last month is now available, including remarks from Master of Ceremonies Katherine Mangu-Ward,…
Blog
CEI Annual Dinner 2019: Katherine Mangu-Ward
We’re still thanking everyone who supported, sponsored, and attended the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th Anniversary Dinner and Reception last month. One of the superstars of the…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Rule of Reason Standard vs. Consumer Welfare Standard
Regulators have used two different standards to judge antitrust cases over the last century or so: the “rules of reason” standard and the “consumer welfare”…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Misleading Herfindahl-Hirschman Index
Market concentration is the most common reason for antitrust intervention. If a company has too large a market share, it can abuse that market power…
Blog
More to Like in Zuckerberg’s Aspen Talk Than Not
Yesterday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on some of the most pressing issues facing his company and big tech as…
Blog
If Facebook and Apple are Feuding, How Are they Monopolies?
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal recapped a recent war-of-words between a European Facebook executive, Nick Clegg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. At issue…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Relevant Market Fallacy
If a firm is charged with having market power, the question naturally arises: in which market? Does Facebook have a monopoly over social networking, especially…
Blog
A Vision for Freedom: CEI’s 35th Anniversary
At the Competitive Enterprise Institute this week we’re still reflecting on the success of last Thursday’s 35th anniversary dinner and gala, and thanking our friends…
