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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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The Hayride
Coalition Calls on Congress to Reject Corporate Welfare, End Ex-Im Bank
The Hayride cites a coalition letter, joined by CEI, opposing the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. President Donald Trump supports filling the board and…
Blog
Search for the Hand: 2019 CEI Dinner Movie
Last night was the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th anniversary dinner and gala here in Washington, D.C., and a crowd of several hundred friends and supporters…
Blog
Political Realignment Is Big Problem for Free-Market Supporters
Angela Nagle, an economic nationalist and author of “Kill All Normies,” recently argued on a podcast that, “Conservatives are starting to have these interesting debates…
Blog
Introducing Antitrust Basics
Often, a drips-and-drabs approach to learning an issue over a period of time is as effective as a single intense cram session. To that end,…
Blog
VIDEO: How to Become a Federal Criminal
Have you ever made an unreasonable gesture to a passing horse in a national park? If so, you are already a federal criminal. For the…
Blog
This Summer, Celebrate Lemonade Freedom
There is good news for young entrepreneurs coming out of the Lone Star State, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) recently signed a bill allowing…
Blog
State Officials, Department of Justice Should Green-Light Sprint-T-Mobile Merger
Yesterday’s filing by ten state attorneys general to block the proposed merger of wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint is the latest threat to the innovations…
Blog
Does Capitalism Destroy Culture?
Capitalism’s critics claim that the pursuit of profit can become like a black hole, consuming all of our attention and energy at the expense of culture.
Blog
Corporate ‘Power’ Is Limited and Temporary—Government Power Is the Real Threat
An Axios article today examines for-profit companies taking public positions on controversial political issues, carrying the headline “When companies act like governments.” Reporter Erica Pandey…
Fox Business
What Investors Need To Know About SEC’s New Broker Standards
Fox Business cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on new SEC broker standards. “Hopefully, the new rules will protect investors from fraud and deception…
Blog
This Month, Take Pride in Abundance and Opportunities of Capitalism
June is Pride Month, when gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and other not-straight people celebrate with a variety of events, including activism, parades, and concerts. As…
News Release
Antitrust Action Will Sacrifice 2 Years of Trump Deregulatory Gains, Harm Consumers
Today, House Democrats launched antitrust investigations into prominent technology companies, including Facebook, Google and potentially others.
Blog
Will Antitrust End Trump’s Deregulatory Push?
Revelations that antitrust enforcers have conspired to divide jurisdiction and initiate antitrust investigations into Google and Apple (the U.S. Department of Justice) and Amazon and…
Blog
Addressing the Gender Pay Gap: Culture, Not Legislation
Gender discrimination is a complex problem with a complex solution.
Blog
VIDEO: Ending Police Harassment of Small Business in India
Our friends at the Atlas Network have an excellent new video out about legal reform in India that is helping small businesspeople stand up to…
Blog
Corporate Virtue in Eye of Beholder
The main impression I’ve gotten from much recent reporting on the ethical behavior and social responsibility of business is that its value depends greatly on…
Blog
VIDEO: What Is the ‘Social Responsibility’ of Business?
Recently I was in the audience for an interesting panel discussion, hosted by the Federalist Society, on corporate social responsibility. Should corporate managers only work…
Blog
Chain Stores Are Part of Civil Society Too
I recently reviewed the book “Alienated America” by Washington Examiner editor Timothy Carney, and I’d like to return to one of the observations he made…
News Release
CEI Applauds FCC Support for Sprint-T-Mobile Merger
Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Chairman Ajit Pai will circulate a draft order urging fellow commissioners vote to approve the merger between Sprint…
Blog
Federal Communications Commission Wisely Steps out of Way of Sprint/T-Mobile Merger
Today the Federal Communications Commission signaled it will likely vote to approve the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile.
Blog
Costs of Antitrust Regulation and Institutionalization of Raising Competitors’ Costs
Antitrust policy is corporate welfare, a prominent illustration of how regulation, not just spending, enables and encourages transfers of wealth by force.
Blog
REVIEW: ‘Honorable Business’ by Prof. James Otteson
I wrote up some initial impressions about the new book on business ethics, “Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society,”…
Blog
VIDEO: Cheers to Food Truck Freedom
Congratulations to mobile food vendors Benny Diaz and Brian Peffer—and their attorneys at the Institute for Justice—for scoring a victory for freedom of food commerce…
Blog
Alice Rivlin, 1931-2019
Some economists do more than teach classes and write books. Alice Rivlin, who passed away this week, was proof. She was the first director of…
Blog
White House Uses Discredited Complaints Tactic against Social Media Companies
My colleague Wayne Crews has already slammed the White House for a first step towards government regulation of online speech in its “tech bias” complaints…
Blog
Trade War State of Play: China, USMCA
If President Trump’s trade war has a single takeaway, it is this: Raising tariffs is an ineffective bargaining strategy. When the U.S. raises its tariffs,…
Forbes
What If the Administrative State Cannot Be Reformed?
For the past couple of years I’ve been emphasizing the usefulness of an executive order from President Donald Trump on regulatory "guidance documents" to bridge the gap…
Blog
VIDEO: Report Card on Regulatory Reform
Earlier this week I had the good fortune to spend some time at the historic Mayflower hotel here in Washington, D.C. attending the Federalist Society’s 7th…
Blog
Breaking up and Regulating Facebook: Unfair, Un-American, Unacceptable
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, former publisher of The New Republic, argues in a long essay for The New York Times that the company should be…
Blog
Ex-Im Bank Revival?
Next week the Senate is expected to vote on new board members for the Export-Import Bank, which gives favorable financing terms to foreign governments and…
Blog
Costs of Unequal Treatment of Citizens by Abandoning Negative Rights for a Positive Rights Framework
To many classical liberals (or libertarians), it is primarily the individual’s right of self-defense that is delegated to a government. We cannot unilaterally commence the…
Blog
How Julian Simon Defeats Thanos
“The universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist.” With those simple words, the Marvel supervillain Thanos…
Blog
New Civil Liberties Alliance Sounds Alarm on Unconstitutional Government
The New Civil Liberties Alliance hosted a very interesting event this week, as part of its “Lunch and Law” speaker series, featuring remarks by Hudson…
Blog
Antitrust Regulation Turning into Campaign Issue
Both parties are making antitrust regulation a 2020 campaign issue. Neither President Trump nor most of the Democratic candidates are proposing improvements. Over at the…
Blog
Insights from James Otteson’s ‘Honorable Business’
I’ve been reading a new book on business ethics, “Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society,” and it has some…
Blog
VIDEO: Johan Norberg on Resource Scarcity vs. Abundance
It’s an old argument: as population increases and we use up more of the earth’s natural resources, everything is become more scarce. Soon the pressures…
Blog
New Study: The Case against Antitrust Law
Antitrust regulation is a complex, multifaceted issue. It brings together insights from law, economics, political science, history, philosophy, and other disciplines. Right now both political…
News Release
CEI Makes the Case against the Use of Antitrust Law
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today released a report making the case that government use of antitrust law to break up big companies has a chilling…
Study
The Case against Antitrust Law
Politicians and pundits across the ideological spectrum often call for greater competition in the marketplace. While their favored means vary widely, the view that current…
Blog
Americans Optimistic about Role of Tech and Platforms
At a time when big tech companies are being attacked over bigness, privacy, elections, and the ordering of their news feeds, the Charles Koch Institute…
Blog
REVIEW: ‘Alienated America’ by Timothy P. Carney
Tim Carney’s new book on social alienation and U.S. politics, “Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse,” raises the bar for Trump-era political…
Blog
Sharing Economy Is Opposite of Servant Economy
In a bleak take on the sharing economy, Atlantic writer Alexis C. Madrigal says it has created a “servant economy,” where sharing economy platforms provide…
Blog
Move Slowly and Establish Rules: Facebook’s Call for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…
Blog
VIDEO: What Do Entrepreneurs Actually Do?
Our friends at the Foundation for Economic Education have a new video that gives a great short introduction to entrepreneuship, and what businesspeople actually do…
Blog
VIDEO: Building a Living on eBay
At a time when socialism seems determined to crawl back from the dustbin of history, it can be a challenge defending the moral legitimacy—and humanity—of…
The Washington Times
Antitrust Explained
The Washington Times cited Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on CEI’s video, “Antitrust Explained.” Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren is among those who…
Blog
VIDEO: Why Antitrust Is a Problem, Not a Solution
With major political figures proposing the forced breakup of some of the nation’s most successful companies, the once-arcane field of antitrust law is now at…
News Release
CEI Releases New Video: How Antitrust Harms Consumers by Stifling Innovation and Competition
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today launched a new video, “Antitrust Explained,” disputing recent calls by politicians and academics to use antitrust laws and regulations…
Blog
VIDEO: Deirdre McCloskey on “Bourgeois Dignity”
Given that it is International Women’s Day and almost CEI’s 35th anniversary, today is an excellent day to celebrate the impressive legacy of economist (and…
Blog
The Regulatory Costs of Abandoned Federalism
The deterioration of the principle of separation of powers is a signature feature of the powerful federal Administrative State. This corrosion is accompanied by a…
