in turn enable further types of interactions beyond the realm of business. The genius of the market is that it enables a wide array of individuals, groupings, and associations to organize spontaneously to advance their various interests in a cooperative fashion that yields win-win arrangements.
Featured Posts
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The cold wind of socialism
In an episode of the Netflix series The Crown, an aging Winston Churchill refers to the Labour Party’s return to power as the “cold…
Blog
Trump’s ‘Golden Share’ breaches government’s proper role
On June 13, President Trump issued an executive order declaring that the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel…
Blog
Trump’s newborn nest egg accounts
In the face of recurring economic shocks—we’ve suffered 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and COVID-19 in the 21st century alone—the reflex to throw hundreds of…
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National Review
Let a Thousand ESG Certifiers Bloom
The business world has recently seen a dramatic increase in the vogue for “socially responsible” rules of behavior. Companies are encouraged to make environmental, social, and…
Blog
Retro Reviews: Azar Gat with Alexander Yakobson – Nations: The Long History and Deep Roots of Political Ethnicity and Nationalism (2013)
Nations: The Long History and Deep Roots of Political Ethnicity and Nationalism is the rare book that makes the reader see the world differently, permanently.
Blog
Are Scandinavian Countries Socialist?
Are modern Scandinavian countries actually socialist? This question must be asked because it is a common rhetorical device of “democratic socialist” politicians to wave away…
Blog
Demise of ESG Investing Overstated
The Department of Labor’s recent notice of proposed rulemaking on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in pension fund investments has received a lot of…
Blog
The Socialist Temptation: Why Don’t People Remember the Horrors of Socialism?
Why are people still attracted to socialism when its history is plain for all to see? One reason is that those who proclaimed the dawn…
Reason
Capitalism Trumps Hate
Big business wasn’t exactly the first place activists looked for allies as the modern gay rights movement emerged. Large corporations have long been seen as…
National Review
Socialists on the March
Last week, several self-proclaimed Democratic Socialists defeated long-serving Democratic incumbents in New York State primaries. One of the insurgents, Zohran Mamdani, tweeted out the words, “Socialism won.” His pinned tweet on…
The Capitalist League
Iain Murray: Socialism, Capitalism, and American Values
One of the most important things I learned at the feet of Fred Smith, founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was that most Americans don’t…
Town Hall
Socialism and the Cultural Revolution
In the 1953 classic film The Wild One, a girl asks Marlon Brando’s smoldering Johnny Strabler what he is rebelling against. He answers, “What’ve you got?”…
National Review
Socialism and the Corporation: A Love-Hate Relationship
Socialists would rather the traditional American firm did not exist. Animosity towards the capitalist boss for reaping all the rewards of his employees’ labor, or (perhaps…
Epoch Times
Why ‘Socialism’ Sounds Like ‘American Values’ To So Many
The Epoch Times quotes CEI’s Iain Murray Support for socialism in America isn’t new, nor is the successful push for socialist policies. It seems…
Forbes
From SpaceX To George Washington: How Our First President Welcomed Balloon Flight And Predicted Air Travel
With its splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the SpaceX Crew Dragon became the latest vehicle to continue the tradition of manned flights taking off from and…
Reason
Capitalism Trumps Hate
Big business wasn't exactly the first place activists looked for allies as the modern gay rights movement emerged. Large corporations have long been seen as…
Blog
The Socialist Temptation: Socialism and American Values
The way to reach people is by making sure a policy accorded with their values. In his new book, The Socialist Temptation, Iain Murray argues…
Blog
Wealthy Millennials Not So Concerned with “Socially Responsible” Investing
In the last few years advocates of corporate social responsibility theory have been assuring everyone who would listen that a new day is dawning for…
Blog
America’s Cultural Revolution
In his forthcoming book, The Socialist Temptation, Iain Murray talks about how socialism in China produced the Cultural Revolution. The text of the book was…
Blog
George Washington’s Fight (and Ours) against Regulation without Representation
Those who have followed CEI over the years know that one of our main grievances is “Regulation Without Representation.” The phrase—an apt description of laws…
Blog
Why George Washington Shouldn’t Be Canceled
The father of our country is making news, but for disappointing reasons. Washington was trending on Twitter after his statue was toppled in Portland. A private…
Blog
Secretary Scalia to Pension Funds: Manage for Returns, Not Virtue Signaling
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Labor Secretary Scalia explains the reasoning behind a proposed rule reaffirming that pension funds should focus on providing benefits…
Cato Journal
Book Review: The American Dream Is Not Dead (But Populism Could Kill It)
Capitalism’s populist critics, on both left and right, have got their critique backward—not only are earnings and economic opportunity not evaporating, as they claim, but…
Blog
Value of Employee Benefits in Eye of Beholder
Advocates of “social responsibility” and environmental, social, and governance standards for companies have little interest in their proposed requirements being voluntary, despite frequent protestations to…
Blog
“Social Responsibility” Expectations for Business Pivot from Voluntary to Mandatory
The Financial Times reported that many companies have cut dividends to shareholders because they are struggling with the current economic downturn. But even after we’ve…
Blog
My Answer to J.K. Rowling on What Cryptocurrency Is
To paraphrase a famous financial services commercial from the 1970s and 1980s, when J.K. Rowling asks, people answer. When the famed author of the Harry…
Blog
Lean on Business Leaders to Defend Markets
One on the main goals of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Advancing Capitalism is for more business leaders to prioritize the defense of the…
Blog
Retro Reviews: Common Sense Political Economy
This review of Philip Henry Wicksteed’s 1910 textbook The Common Sense of Political Economy was originally published at Inertia Wins. Wicksteed was a leading economic…
Letters
CEI Joins NTU Leads 29 Free Market Organizations in Opposing Merger Ban Proposals
Dear Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, and Leader McCarthy: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, representing taxpayers and free market advocates across the nation,…
Blog
Retro Review: Irving Kristol’s “Two Cheers for Capitalism”
Long before we began debating the wisdom of neoconservative foreign policy, Irving Kristol was writing about domestic economic policy and the future of capitalism. His…
Blog
New Profile in Capitalism: Ariel Corporation CEO Karen Wright
Some CEOs seem to have more hours in the day than others. Such is the case of Karen Wright, the head of Ariel Corporation, a…
Study
Profiles in Capitalism: The Role of the Business Leader in Public Affairs and Philanthropy
When Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) President Kent Lassman sat down to interview Ariel Corporation CEO Karen Wright at the CEI Summit in New Orleans in…
Blog
Retro Review: Vlad Tarko’s Biography of Elinor Ostrom
Elinor Ostrom’s pioneering work on “polycentrism,” the existence of multiple sources of government authority or power within a single political system, is especially relevant during…
Blog
Memo to BlackRock: Drop Activist Agenda, Focus on Recovery
Should large institutional investors find and support profitable firms or adopt the tactics of left-wing pressure groups to force companies into adopting a political agenda?…
Blog
Robots Are Here to Make Your Job Safer and Cleaner
Positive stories about win-win results from the march of automation are everywhere in our economy, but they don’t get told and repeated enough. The workers…
Blog
Retro Review: The Year Civilization Collapsed
This review of Eric H. Cline’s 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, was originally published at Inertia Wins. Despite covering events in the ancient past,…
Blog
Retro Reviews: An Introduction
Political news and analysis always suffers from a recency bias—we tend to assume that the latest analysis and reportage is superior to what was posted…
Blog
Pandemic Economy: Toilet Paper Supplies Stretched, But Strong
American consumers, worried about the future of the coronavirus pandemic have continued to buy out available stocks of key products. However, temporary shortages are the…
Blog
Sen. Toomey Defends Capitalism
This week Sen. Pat Toomey gave an excellent and much-needed speech at the Heritage Foundation on capitalism and its right-leaning critics. Toomey made clear that…
Blog
Big-Mouth CEOs Less of a Threat than Crusading Politicians
Free-market advocates are understandably skeptical of “stakeholder” capitalism—the idea that corporate managers should focus not just on returns to shareholders, but on pleasing a potentially…
Blog
Two Cheers for Nikki Haley’s Defense of Capitalism
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has written a bold and, for the most part, very good op-ed on the future of…
Blog
Sustainability Disclosures, Meant to Protect, Could Create Additional Risk for Investors
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) claims that it focuses on issues that are “financially material” to the companies they are assessing. But materiality is…
Blog
Exploring History of Black Entrepreneurs
Madam C.J. Walker founded and built a company specializing in hair care products that eventually made her a millionaire and international celebrity. Her army of…
Blog
VIDEO: Assessing Frédéric Bastiat’s Legacy
A new a three-part video series from the American Institute for Economic Research on Frédéric Bastiat's life and legacy is an excellent introduction to the…
National Review
Them the People
National Review cites senior fellow Iain Murray on democratic socialism: Murray, talking about his forthcoming book The Socialist Temptation at a CEI event in New Orleans, describes the inherent tension…
Blog
NBC/WSJ Poll: “Socialism” Not So Popular After All
NBC News and The Wall Street Journal just released a new poll that finds capitalism isn’t underwater with the American public just yet. Registered voters…
Blog
Economic Planning and Dead Mall Legends
The kind of American chain stores and retail formats that dominated the second half of the 20th century have fallen on hard times in the…
Blog
Are the Climate and Capitalism at War?
Many contemporary environmentalists share two important beliefs: a) that anthropogenic climate change is the biggest threat to the future of humanity and b) that a…
Blog
Dog Bites Man in Davos
J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently said that “most state-owned enterprises don’t do a particularly good job.” The head of the world’s largest bank…
Blog
Best Books of 2019: Year of Vindication for Mother of George Washington
August 25 of this past year was the 230th anniversary of the death of Mary Ball Washington, the mother of the first president of the…
Blog
Best Books of 2019: In Defense of Openness
Most policy proposals for fighting poverty are zero-sum. The best way to help the poor, the argument goes, is to take from the rich. Van…
Blog
Best Books of 2019: Alienated America by Tim 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
Best Books of 2019: Big Business by Tyler Cowen
Cowen argues that most people underestimate the amount of good that big businesses do. They make possible affordable communications, books, culture and art (and the…
