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Subsidy-free capitalism may require a constitutional amendment
Automobiles, electrification, ample consumer goods and mass marketing, a construction boom, and access to credit helped fuel the Roaring Twenties of a century ago.
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Frontier economics with Kendall Cotton
In this week’s episode we cover the diamond jubilee of the Philadelphia Society, the cost of government regulation in the UK, the…
Blog
Small banks targeted as FDIC cracks down on technology partnerships
Earlier this week, Politico’s “Morning Money” column reported an astonishing finding that almost certainly points to politicization in enforcement by federal bank regulators. The…
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Blog
Best Books of 2018: Life after Google
Are Tucker Carlson’s predictions of Google taking over the future keeping you up at night? Sooth yourself with the creative destruction described in “Life after…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Antitrust
If 2018 was a bad year for antitrust skeptics, 2019 promises to be worse. We must hope that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Suicide of the West & Enlightenment Now
Goldberg’s “Suicide of the West” is a literate, snappily written, and often humorous defense of Enlightenment values and a broadside against populism. Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Factfulness
Think Julian Simon, Matt Ridley, and Steven Pinker’s data-driven optimism, mixed with Michael Shermer and Bryan Caplan’s awareness of human cognitive biases, as told by…
Blog
Kent Lassman’s Christmas Wish List
The holiday season is a good time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished and what we can look forward to in the next year. That’s…
News Release
CEI: Rumored DOJ Memo to Restrict States’ Power to Regulate Intrastate Gambling Would be “Dangerous Precedent”
According to reports, the Department of Justice is considering releasing a memo that reverses a 2011 decision by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) which…
The Hill
Congress must restrain power of new consumer financial director
The new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathleen Kraninger, will have a unique opportunity to end past abuses against American financial institutions, a…
Blog
CEI Takes on Antitrust
There is a concerted effort from elements on both sides of the political aisle to use antitrust law to regulate and ultimately break apart Big…
News Release
Claims that Google Suppresses Conservative Views Lack Evidence
As Google’s CEO testifies in the House of Representatives today, Competitive Enterprise Institute technology policy expert Ryan Radia disputes claims that the technology company has…
Blog
Top Ten Antitrust Targets
Columbia University professor Tim Wu is author of the new book The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, which calls for a…
Inside ARM
BREAKING: Senate Confirms Kraninger As Next Director Of BCFP
Inside ARM cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau on Kathy Kraninger confirmation. Today, the Senate voted on and confirmed Kathy Kraninger as the…
Blog
Fighting for Small Business: Whiskey Edition
This week marks the 85th anniversary of the end of Prohibition, and we still have a lot to learn from that dismal experiment in government overreach.
Blog
Don’t Blame Google for a Feature Consumers Want
It’s very rare I disagree with the great freedom-loving journalist John Stossel, but his column at Townhall this week made me raise an eyebrow. In…
Blog
New Ideas for Addressing Poverty and Inequality
While the political headlines this week are dominated by a public feud between the Secretary of the Interior and the likely incoming chairman of the…
Blog
GM Layoffs, Tariffs, and Subsidies
CEI's Ryan Young explores the lessons policymakers should learn from General Motors’ announcement of layoffs and plant closures.
Blog
Freedom and Whiskey Go Together
Recently Dave Sussman of the show Whiskey Politics featured myself and my old pals Drew Tidwell and Helen Straight of Passing Lane Films on his…
Blog
Happy 50th Anniversary to Reason
Congratulations to our friends at Reason magazine (and the Reason Foundation) on their golden anniversary. Some members of the Competitive Enterprise Institute team were recently…
Blog
What Do the Midterms Mean for Big Tech?
For the big technology firms, the midterm elections were never going to change much. Whatever the result, they were going to face more scrutiny over the…
Patch Media
Michigan Senate & Governor’s Races
Patch Media cited CEI’s score of Senator Stabenow. Stabenow will receive $159,400 per year from her 22 years in Congress ($174,000 annual salary)…
Blog
Wealth in Disguise: Why Halloween Costumes Are Better Than Ever
Before we bid farewell to Halloween week 2018 for good, let’s take a chance to glean an economic lesson from the piles of candy, cardboard…
Washington Examiner
Supreme Court’s review of class-action settlements could have huge implications for consumers
But then, imagine that when the attorneys settle the case, they take all the money for themselves, plus a few other class members, and funnel…
Products
Is Capitalism Destroying Democracy?
When Duke University historian Nancy MacLean released her book “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” last Summer,…
Blog
Food Truck Freedom Marches on in North Carolina
There is good news for fans of the Poor Piggy’s BBQ food truck. The town of Carolina Beach, North Carolina has reversed its anticompetitive…
Blog
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Airline Deregulation
Forty years ago today on October 24, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law. This bipartisan legislation led to the elimination…
USA Today
Tesla Shareholders, Not the Government, Should Hold the CEO Leash
Depending on whom you talk to, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is either the next Henry Ford or the next P.T. Barnum. Musk’s explosive tweets reverberate…
Blog
Mapping Public Policy Wins at the State Level
The fine folks at the State Policy Network deserve well-earned congratulations on the completion of yet another successful annual meeting, this year co-sponsored by…
Blog
Help the Poor by Making Their Lives Less Expensive
The Cato Institute’s Ryan Bourne has a great new study (and accompanying video) out about social welfare, government spending, and regulatory reform.
Blog
A Toast to the Sears Catalog
In retail, as in every industry, eras come and go. Few recent events mark the passing of an era like the announced bankruptcy of…
Blog
Discard Static Market Analysis, Let Sprint and T-Mobile Merge
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has been making a convincing case for a swift and condition-free approval from regulators of the proposed Sprint and T-Mobile…
Blog
David Henderson (1927-2018), RIP
We are sad to note the death of our good friend and strong ally, David Henderson, on September 30th in London. After a career as…
Blog
How to Articulate a Free-Market Vision for the Future
The Competitive Enterprise Institute views most market failure rationales for government intervention as wrong, overstated, or unproven (or all of the above). The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
The Heartland Institute
Research & Commentary: Two New Regulatory Reform Ideas For West Virginia
The Heartland Instituted cited CEI’s “Ten Thousand Commandments” annual survey and Fellow Ryan Young’s “REINing in Regulatory Overreach” article. “Ten Thousand Commandments” is the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Be a Giver with DonorsTrust and State Policy Network in Salt Lake City
This week the State Policy Network is holding its legendary annual meeting, this time in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah. With hundreds of delegates from…
Blog
William Nordhaus, Paul Romer Win 2018 Economics Nobel Prize
Both of this year’s economics Nobel laureates have been on the short list for some time. Both are deserving, as David Henderson writes in…
News Release
CEI Appeals Unlawful Conditions FCC Imposed on Cable Provider Merger
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and four individuals – John France, Daniel Frank, Jean-Claude Gruffat, and Charles Haywood – filed an appeal today with the…
Blog
New Study Reminds Regulators to Keep Focus on Consumer Welfare in Antitrust
Yesterday the good folks at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) held an important and timely event on the future of antitrust policy. The splotlight…
Government Executive
Trump Deregulatory Effort May Just Be Getting Started
Government Executive cited CEI’s Vice President for Policy Clyde Wayne Crews on Trump administration deregulation. The topic is of great interest to the conservative…
Blog
VIDEO: ‘Gov’ Is Back and He’s Here to Help
Our creative friends at the Independent Institute in California are back with an entertaining new video series that pokes fun at some of the…
The Daily Caller
Opinion: California Forces Female Quotas On Corporate Boards
The Daily Caller cited former CEI’s Senior Attorney Hans Bader on California female quotas. “It seems more likely that companies’ success leads to…
Small Business Trends
NLRB Proposes Rule Change To Restore Joint Employer Standard
Small Business Trends cited CEI’s Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on NLRB proposed rule change. Labor policy analyst Trey Kovacs of The Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Making a Living with Free Speech
Free speech protections in the United States are pretty far reaching, including protections for commercial free speech and occupational free speech. If you…
Blog
Congress Should Stay out of Sports Betting Regulation
For the first time in twenty-five years, Americans can legally wager on the outcome of sporting events outside of Nevada. Thanks to a Supreme…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Urge Congress to Eliminate, Not Expand, Electric Vehicle Tax Credits
In a joint letter released this week, thirty free market groups urged House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) to oppose “any effort to expand…
The Daily Caller
Trump’s Labor Board May Overturn Obama’s Joint-Employer Rule
The Daily Caller cited CEI’s Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on NLRB’s Joint-Employer Standard proposal. “The NLRB’s proposed rule seeks to restore longstanding principles on what establishes…
Blog
Free Trade Challenges: Tariffs, Concentrated Benefits, and Diffused Costs
Tariffs hurt more people than they help. So why do those outnumbered few keep winning so many political victories at the majority’s expense? The answer…
Blog
How Free Is Your State?
Our friends at the Cato Institute have a great new promotional video for the latest edition of their annual Freedom in the 50…
Comment
CEI Comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s Hearings Regarding Competition and Consumer Protection Policy
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) respectfully submits these comments regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s forthcoming hearings to consider whether evolving business models in the new…
Blog
Hernando de Soto: How To Make the Third World Richer than the First
Our good friend Nick Gillespie interviews Peruvian economist and property rights activist Hernando de Soto about the future of prosperity in the developing world, and…
Politico
Real Talk on Capital Gains
Politico cited CEI’s platform economy video. CEI has a new video out today “extolling the benefits of the modern digital ‘platform…
PJ Media
Here’s Why Bureaucrats See a Lethal Threat in the ‘Platform Economy’
PJ Media cited CEI’s platform economy video. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has a great new video out explaining why the Platform Economy —…
Forbes
Are Entrepreneurs Creating the Growing Economy, or is the Growing Economy Enabling Entrepreneurs?
It is taken as given that taxation and regulation affect business startups and job creation. However, the many metrics seeking to explain governmental policies' effects…
Study
Traders of the Lost Ark
View Full Document as PDF With contributions by Fred L. Smith Jr., Marc Scribner, Daniel Press, and Ryan Khurana Profiles in Capitalism August…
Blog
New York City Continues War on Affordable Consumer Travel
Yesterday, the New York City Council voted to impose a one-year cap on the number of ride-hailing vehicles able to operate in the city.
Blog
Real Sin for Social Media Companies Not ‘Censorship,’ but Getting into Bed with Government
Social media outlets have been filled with commentary this week about the decisions by Apple, Facebook, YouTube, and Spotify to remove content created by…
Blog
Debunking the (Plastic) Straw Man Arguments
Of all the consumer products one might have expected to become a flashpoint for political controversy, the humble plastic drinking straw is an unlikely contender.
Blog
The Platform Economy Can Change the World
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute launches its new video about the platform economy. Platforms are an ancient way of doing business—think of matchmakers, city fairs,…
Op-Eds
Are Entrepreneurs Creating The Growing Economy, Or Is The Growing Economy Enabling Entrepreneurs?
It is taken as given that taxation and regulation affect business startups and job creation. However the many metrics seeking to explain governmental policies' effects on entrepreneurship probably…
Forbes
Networking and Automation are Upending the Scholarly Study of Entrepreneurship
The changing nature of work via the sharing economy, automation and networking is one among a profusion of variables (such as economic liberty) affecting modern…
National Review
The EU Attempts to Become the World’s Antitrust Regulator
The European Union recently announced it would fine Google $5 billion for alleged anti-competitive practices in the licensing of its Android smartphone operating system. There…
Blog
Made in Mékhé: An African Entrepreneur Makes the Case for Economic Freedom
When I was in Atlanta last month for the Foundation for Economic Education’s annual conference, FEEcon, I heard a lot of messages of…
Blog
Continue Supply-Side Policies to Maintain Economic Growth
As my colleague Ryan Young says, four percent economic growth is wonderful news. It provides yet more evidence that free-market, supply-side policies work, and…
News Release
CEI: Second Quarter Growth Shows Free Market Policies Work, but Restrictive Trade Policies Could Harm Future Growth
The Department of Commerce announced Friday morning the U.S. economy grew by 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2018.
Blog
European Regulators Wrong on Google Fine, Wrong on Antitrust Policy
Dominance and popularity are not the same as a coercive monopoly. The European Commission is behaving in protectionist fashion, not in a manner benefitting consumers,…
News Release
House Bipartisan JOBS Act 3.0 Act Will Cut Red Tape for Investors, Small Companies
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will likely pass by a substantial margin a legislative package — backed by both House Financial Services Committee Chairman…
Blog
Justice Department Shouldn’t Second-Guess Shareholders in T-Mobile-Sprint Merger
T-Mobile and Sprint—the third and fourth largest mobile carriers in the United States, respectively—are in the process of merging into a single company…
Forbes
Born Or Made? Personal Characteristics that Influence Entrepreneurship
Regulation is one of the more important influences on entrepreneurship around the world, and modern scholars have explored what the see as key conceptual and…
Blog
A Quick Lesson in Antitrust: Netflix and Comcast
Every time a major corporate merger is announced, pundits predictably warn of impending doom if regulators allow it to happen. Yet, pundits and regulators don’t know any…
Forbes
What Do Scholars Say About The Conceptual Relationship Between Regulation And Entrepreneurship?
We know that “Institutions Matter” when it comes to governance and prosperity. They have to, because the phrase returns over 200,000 Google search results.
Blog
Will The Real Freaks Please Stand Up?
Thanks to everyone who made last night’s annual dinner and reception a great success. Our headliners Mick Mulvaney, Jonah Goldberg, and…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of T-Mobile Sprint Merger
We understand that the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing on June 27…
Blog
Welcome to the CEI Annual Dinner
We’ve come to one of the most exciting times of the year—the week of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Annual Dinner and Reception. This year’s event,…
Forbes
Trump’s Executive Branch Restructuring: What If The Federal Government Is Beyond Streamlining?
Can the federal government shrink? Or is the situation like the waistlines that paradoxically parallel the growth of the diet and fitness industry?…
Fox Business
VIDEO: Jessica Melugin Discusses South Dakota v. Wayfair Ruling on Fox Business
Associate director of the Center for Technology & Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Jessica Melugin, discusses the Supreme Court’s disappointing…
The New York Times
Supreme Court’s Wayfair Decision Will Hurt Online Shopping
Thursday’s Supreme Court decision has changed how states can tax online shopping. In South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc., the court upheld a state law that…
Blog
Relearning Old Lessons about the Minimum Wage
The question of the minimum wage is a hot topic this week, as the voters of the District of Columbia just approved Initiative 77, …
Blog
‘I, Whiskey’ Nominated for 2018 Reason Video Prize
Thanks to the great Nick Gillespie of Reason for Friday’s exciting announcement that the Competitive Enterprise Institute short film “I, Whiskey: The Human…
Blog
Messages of Freedom and Hope from FEEcon
Last week I was in Atlanta enjoying the excitement and intellectual ferment of FEEcon, the annual conference held by the Foundation for Economic Education.
The Daily Caller
Trump Unveils His Pick to Head the White House’s Environmental Council
The Daily Caller cited Myron Ebell on the professional successes of Mary Neumayr as head of the White House council leading policy coordination on energy…
Townhall
Reduce, Freeze or Eliminate CAFE Fuel Standards
Townhall cited Sam Kazman on the contribution to casualty rates stemming from automobile related accidents that CAFÉ rules propagate. Even with side air…
Saudi Gazette
High-Stakes Ruling Awaited On AT&T-Time Warner Merger
Saudi Gazette cited Clyde Wayne Crews on the inadequacy of government for responding to growing competition against traditional media outlets, which has been exacerbated by…
News Release
CEI Commends Judge’s Approval of AT&T-Time Warner Deal in Antitrust Lawsuit
Today, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon approved the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Judge Leon rejected the Justice Department’s argument in its antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking…
Blog
Good News for Young Lemonade Stand Entrepreneurs
Every summer there are news stories about local authorities shutting down children’s lemonade stands over lack of licenses, permits, a lack of restaurant-grade kitchen or…
Washington Examiner
Online Sales Taxes Won’t Solve States’ Budget Problems
For almost 20 years, state and local politicians have lobbied Congress for permission to reach across their borders and collect sales taxes from online businesses…
Forbes
What the AT&T-Time Warner Merger Decision Means for U.S. Regulation
President Donald Trump's moves to streamline federal regulation and unleash infrastructure have in some ways been unprecedented. But some developments could undermine or swamp the…
Inside Sources
Will Trump’s Tariffs Kill Free Markets?
President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum against allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union are only the latest skirmish in a long-term attack…
Blog
How Socialism Devastated Venezuela
I’m attending FEEcon, the annual conference held by the Foundation for Economic Education, this week, and there’s an overwhelming number of great speakers…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter to Congress: Farm Bill Must Address Out-of-Control Subsidy Programs
Coalition to Congress: Farm Bill Must Address Out-of-Control Subsidy Programs…
France24
Heightened Debate in US as EU Privacy Rules Take Effect
France24 cited Ryan Radia on the market conditions created by GDPR. Ryan Radia of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said that although GDPR…
The Daily Caller
Facebook And Google Accused Of Violating Europe’s New Law On The First Day
The Daily Caller cited Ryan Radia on the impact of GDPR in enabling favorable market conditions to the dismay of small businesses. “The…
Blog
Did You Hear the One about the Entrepreneur?
When putting together a chapter on entrepreneurship and regulation for the Fraser Institute’s new book “Demographics and Entrepreneurship: Mitigating the Effects of an Aging…
Blog
Red Tape Discourages Entrepreneurs, CEI Expert Explains in Fraser Institute Book
Today, the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank, released a new book on worldwide barriers to entrepreneurship, Demographics and Entrepreneurship: Mitigating the…
The Hill
The Flip Side of Tax Reform: Federal Spending Reform
The Hill cited Clyde Wayne Crews on the annual cost which federal regulations impose on Americans, the cost of which amounts to ten percent of our…
Blog
A New Bibliography for the Platform Economy
The future has arrived, and it is a radically different economy. Havas Media’s Tom Goodwin pointed out in 2015, “Uber, the world’s largest taxi…
News Release
House Vote to Stop CFPB Auto Loan Rule Wins CEI Praise
Today, the House of Representatives passed a resolution to stop a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule aimed at curtailing certain auto loan practices.
The American Spectator
From The Heartland — Celebrate Small Business Week the Right Way
The American Spectator cited the Competitive Enterprise Institute about federal overregulation in not only the immense financial burden however also includes the plethora of rules…
Forbes
Social Media Filtering Is Not Censorship
Governments can censor. And in a convoluted way, that's what social media regulation would do.
Blog
Prof. Rajshree Agarwal on the Rubin Report: The True Value of Free Enterprise
I’ve been interested over the last several years to see Dave Rubin’s metamorphosis from stand-up comedian to podcast co-host to serious public affairs…
Blog
Senator Grills Zuckerberg While Gathering His Own Facebook User Data
One of the most glaring moments of hypocrisy during yesterday's Facebook hearing came from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) telling Zuckerberg that he felt “betrayed”…
Marketplace Radio
AUDIO: John Berlau Discusses Accountability at the CFPB with American Public Media’s Marketplace
John Berlau, Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, joined American Public Media’s Marketplace, to discuss how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be…
Blog
Zuckerberg Testimony Hints at Devil’s Bargain with Big Government
Much of the political class in Washington, D.C. is currently holding its breath for the big event of the week: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s long-awaited…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Richard Morrison
Senior Fellow
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Capitalism and Free Enterprise
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government
Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform