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New CEI book: Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Adam Smith is 300 years old, and CEI is 40 years old. To celebrate this dual milestone, I edited an essay collection about Adam…
News Release
Report considers economist Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Upon the 300 year anniversary birth year of legendary economist Adam Smith, the Competitive Enterprise Institute today published a collection of essays exploring Smith’s…
Study
Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Introduction: Going strong at 300 Ryan Young This essay collection celebrates Adam Smith’s 300th birthday. He is best known for being the first modern economist,…
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Blog
New CEI book: Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Adam Smith is 300 years old, and CEI is 40 years old. To celebrate this dual milestone, I edited an essay collection about Adam…
News Release
Report considers economist Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Upon the 300 year anniversary birth year of legendary economist Adam Smith, the Competitive Enterprise Institute today published a collection of essays exploring Smith’s…
Study
Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Introduction: Going strong at 300 Ryan Young This essay collection celebrates Adam Smith’s 300th birthday. He is best known for being the first modern economist,…
Blog
R.I.P. Roger Corman, Filmmaker and Free Marketer
American cinema lost one of its great entrepreneurs last week when producer and director Roger Corman died at age 98. In a career that…
Blog
Distinguished guests celebrate liberty movement jubilee
I recently returned to D.C. from Tampa, Florida, where I attended the 60th anniversary meeting (“Diamond Jubilee”) of the Philadelphia Society. For those who…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Heroes of Progress with Alexander Hammond
In this week’s episode we discuss venture capitalists fighting red tape, challenges to electric vehicle adoption, Americans sleeping on the job,…
Blog
RJ Smith (1937-2024)
Freedom has lost a true champion with the passing of longtime CEI analyst RJ Smith. RJ’s tireless advocacy for private property rights will be especially…
Blog
R.J. Smith – In Memoriam
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has lost a treasured friend and mentor, Robert J. Smith. All my thoughts about R.J. run to superlatives. He was a…
Blog
George Washington’s marvelous list of liberties and grievances
On the federal holiday on Monday and on his real birthday on Thursday, February 22, we celebrate the 292nd birthday of our nation’s first president,…
Blog
Adam Smith, national ruin, and human progress
During the American Revolution, British Member of Parliament John Sinclair wrote a letter to Adam Smith. He was worried about how badly the war was…
Blog
H.L. Mencken channels Adam Smith
Over at Liberty Fund’s AdamSmithWorks website, I have an article drawing a parallel between Adam Smith’s moral philosophy and H.L. Mencken’s satire:…
Blog
Life lessons from Alfred Kahn, father of airline deregulation
“Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie.” Alfred Kahn’s opening words during an American Bar Association session were strange and confusing. Why would a man known for…
Wall Street Journal
Population Growth Is Not a Threat to Prosperity
Marian Tupy and David Deutsch’s op-ed “We Will Never Run Out of Resources” (July 21) recalls the work of Julian Simon. The…
Blog
Adam Smith, George Washington, and the invisible hand in America
Although Adam Smith would have been 300 this year, his birth date is unknown, and his baptism date has shifted from different dates in June…
Blog
Das Adam Smith problem? Nein!
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
Adam Smith on how to love and be lovely
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
The real Adam Smith
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
A remembrance: C. Boyden Gray, 1943-2023
We mourn the passing of C. Boyden Gray. He was a man of his family, the law, and his country. Boyden served in the highest…
Law & Liberty
How the Founders Read Montesquieu
CEI’s Joshua Bandoch is cited on Law & Liberty with respect to Montesquieu: Joshua Bandoch, Research Fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, gives us…
Fee.org
The Real Race Revolutionaries: How Minority Entrepreneurship Can Overcome America’s Racial and Economic Divides
Alfredo Ortiz has a message for all of the progressive politicians and activists working to close the economic gap between white and non-white Americans: Please…
Blog
Fighting Bias and Misinformation, from Pierre Bayle’s 17th Century to the Social Media Age
Many people insist that media bias and misinformation are getting worse in the social media age, and we need to do something about it. Depending…
Small Business Advocate
AUDIO: What George Washington would think about 2021 America
Senior Fellow John Berlau joins Jim Blasingame to report how America’s father, George Washington, would think about the 2021 marketplace, and why he wouldn’t be…
Blog
Book Review: Open: The Story of Human Progress by Johan Norberg
On March 25, 2021 at noon ET, CEI is hosting a double book forum featuring Johan Norberg, the 2019 winner of CEI’s Julian L. Simon…
Forbes
Let’s Keep Cryptocurrency Mines Running in Human Achievement Hour & Every Hour
On Saturday, March 24th, from 8:30 to 9:30 PM in their local time zones, some people will turn off their lights as part of an…
Fox News
Earth Hour or Human Achievement Hour: Which is the enlightened choice?
Two very different events will take place from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, local time, around the world. Participants in Earth…
Blog
Will Government Allow Gene Editing for Cancer Treatment?
The idea of genome editing is no longer a theoretical concept studied only within the confines of labs and scientific research institutions. In August 2017, scientists…
Blog
Outlook for Economy’s ‘Master Resource’ Bright
Yesterday my colleague Marlo Lewis and I sat down for a Facebook Live interview (archived here) on this week’s big event, Human…
Blog
Natural Isn’t Necessarily Better: Celebrating Human Achievement
Human Achievement Hour is the Competitive Enterprise’s Institute’s annual celebration of innovation and progress. During this hour, people around the world pay tribute to the advancements that inventors…
Blog
History Lesson in Technological Optimism: Simon, Jevons, and Lardner
Through his publications and scholarly work in the 1980s and 90s, the economist Julian Simon challenged the conventional wisdom and the intellectual position of the…
Blog
Human Achievement: The Shipping Container
One of the most underappreciated drivers of the modern global economy is the humble shipping container. Widely adopted internationally in the second half of the…
Blog
Hernando de Soto Wins Julian Simon Memorial Award
It is enormously gratifying that this year’s winner of the Julian Simon Award is Hernando de Soto, whose work around the world to define,…
News Release
CEI to Award Hernando de Soto 2018 Julian L. Simon Memorial Award
“Economist, author, humanitarian, advisor to world leaders, and a serial entrepreneur of ideas, Hernando de Soto has stamped his mark on history through pioneering work…
Blog
Gains from Automation Create Path to Greater Prosperity
Automation has become somewhat of a dirty word recently. Fear of mass unemployment and widening inequality has led to calls for greater regulations of technology…
Blog
Human Achievement Benefits Nature’s Creatures—Including Pets
Environmental activists want you to “take action for our planet and nature” by sitting in the dark for an hour on March 24th. But…
Blog
What Will You Achieve with Your 8,760 Hours?
Several years ago CEI launched Human Achievement Hour, an annual celebration of innovation and progress. During this hour—this year, Saturday, March 24th from 8:30pm to…
Blog
An Anniversary Toast for I, Whiskey
It’s been a tremendous year since we released I, Whiskey on YouTube and Facebook and co-hosted our red carpet premiere with the Distilled Spirits Council…
Fox News
John Stossel: How I Plan to Celebrate Earth Day (You Might Not Believe This)
At Fox News, John Stossel explains why he is celebrating Human Achievement Hour instead of Earth Day. Instead of celebrating Earth Day Saturday,…
Blog
Freethink Media on the Folly of the Overpopulation Panic
Freethink Media takes a look back on the overpopulation debate of the 1960s and 1970s, and work of one exceptional human being.
Blog
March 27 Is International Whisk(e)y Day!
Cheers! It’s International Whisk(e)y Day! Not to be confused with World Whisky Day (May 20). What should you do to celebrate? Anything you like! International…
Investor's Business Daily
Earth Hour: Hey, Let’s Live Like We’re In Venezuela
Investor’s Business Daily highlights CEI’s Human Achievement Hour celebration. Meanwhile, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has been encouraging the celebration of Human Achievement Hour…
Blog
Let’s Make a Commitment to Human Ingenuity
Tomorrow, between 8:30 and 9:30 PM, environmental activists will show their commitment to Mother Nature by sitting in the dark for so-called “Earth Hour.” But…
Huffington Post
Don’t Remain in the Dark: Celebrate Human Achievement
The World Wildlife Fund is calling on people around the world to show their “commitment to the planet” by sitting in the dark for…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: The Written Word
Writing is a classic example of what the economist F.A. Hayek called spontaneous order.
Blog
Harm-Reducing Tobacco Alternatives Are a Human Achievement
Regardless of where the innovation comes from, we ought to embrace any safer alternative to smoking.
New York Times
‘Rolling Coal’ in Diesel Trucks, to Rebel and Provoke
The New York Times discusses CEI's Human Achievement Hour and coal rollers with Michelle Minton. Even in this election year of bombastic rhetoric…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Don’t Buy the Hyperloop, Bet on Self-Driving Cars
Futuristic transportation technology often captures the imaginations of the press and public. Sometimes, it’s hype-driven nonsense: think the mysterious “IT” that became the mockery-inducing…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Fighting Mosquito-Borne Diseases with Technology
For millennia, mosquitos have wreaked havoc on mankind, passing along myriad deadly or debilitating diseases. Mankind’s clever interventions—from screened windows to pesticides—have helped greatly control mosquito-transmitted…
Investor's Business Daily
Every Hour Is Earth Hour In The Bleak Third World
Investor's Business Daily reports CEI's alternative to Earth Hour, Human Achievement Hour. American Enterprise Institute economist Mark Perry calls Earth Hour the “annual event…
Blog
Human Achievement Hour: An Enlightened Choice for Saturday Night
It’s a fun time of year . . . at CEI HQ anyway. Once again we prepare to celebrate Human Achievement Hour—the holiday we started…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Fashion
On March 19, I will celebrate Human Achievement Hour instead of Earth Hour. The choice is easy: take an hour out of the evening to feel…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Polio Eradication
Polio used to be a parent’s worst nightmare. The virus mostly affects children, and hampers the brain’s ability to communicate with muscles. While its…
Las Vegas Sun
Let’s be thankful that now is a fantastic time to be alive
Thanksgiving celebrates human cooperation. And even though the European colonization of America was not exactly a cooperative venture, the inaugural 1621 Plymouth Thanksgiving feast certainly…
Blog
Human Achievement Hour: An Honorable Choice for Saturday Night
Earth Hour vs. Human Achievement Hour—two irreconcilably opposed events scheduled for the same time: 8:30-9:30 pm EST, Saturday, March 28, 2015. Earth Hour protestors will turn…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: The Sharing Economy
It’s the most wonderful time of year! Human Achievement Hour is once again upon us, giving us reason to pause and consider recent innovations that…
Forbes
Why Human Achievement Is Worth Celebrating
This Saturday marks the seventh annual observance of “Human Achievement Hour,” a celebration of technology and prosperity hosted by my organization, the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Bitcoin
On the eve of the financial crisis of 2007-8, financial systems had grown extremely sophisticated, but were still essentially based on a model of trust.
Blog
A Bright Future
The following is a guest post by Chelsea German, Researcher and Managing Editor of HumanProgress.org. When Homo erectus first learned to control fire a million years ago, humanity…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Guitars
When Human Achievement Hour rolls around each year, I make sure to do two things. One is to play an electric guitar. The other is to…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Higher Education
As the amount of student loans outstanding continues to rise, taxpayers are more on the hook as the Obama administration continues to expand loan repayment…
Blog
Why and How I’m Celebrating Human Achievement Hour
"Better to light one incandescant bulb than curse the darkness" Tonight is Human Achievement Hour, a time to celebrate human progress and…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Hydrogen Power from Plants
Early in the week I wrote about a major breakthrough toward the peaceful use of nuclear fusion. While that type of energy could drastically…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Bionic Eyes
You won’t see the glory of human achievement if you abide by the World Wide Fund for Nature's recommendation that you spend an hour…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day from HumanProgress.org: Organ Replacement Technology
We are only three days away from Human Achievement Hour (March 29, 8:30pm to 9:30pm)! What better way to celebrate than with a post from…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: 3D Printing Cups, Cars, Houses, and Faces
3D printing is a relatively recent technological development that has already begun to revolutionize model-building, structural and other medical procedures, and construction of items from…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Autonomous Vehicles, from Imagination to Reality
[caption id="attachment_55209" align="alignright" width="300"] CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman about to take a spin in a Google self-driving car in May 2012. (Photo by Marc…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Breakthrough toward Unlimited Clean and Cheap Energy
Shocking as it might seem, some of us at CEI agree with environmentalists that reducing personal waste is a good idea. Voluntarily reducing our individual…
Blog
Kicking off Human Achievement Hour 2014
Annually since 2009, my colleague Michelle Minton has organized a celebration of economic liberty for one hour at the end of March, known as Human…
Blog
Good News to Share Over the Holidays: The World Is Getting Better
In the middle of this holiday season my colleague Stephanie Rugolo over at the Cato’s new project, HumanProgress.org, is spreading cheer by getting…
Blog
Human Achievement Of The Day: Bionic Eye Restores Sight To The Blind
Curing vision problems has long been the domain of science fiction, but a recent breakthrough turns fiction into reality. The aptly named Second Sight Medical…
Blog
Human Achievement Of The Day: Using HIV To Cure Leukemia
The title of the Vimeo video below is “Fighting Fire with Fire,” which conveys fairly well what doctors from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and…
News Release
CEI Announces ‘Human Achievement Hour’ to Coincide with ‘Earth Hour’
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a leading free-market think tank, plans to recognize “Human Achievement Hour” between 8:30pm and 9:30pm on March 28, 2009. The new one-hour holiday coincides…