The primary focus of the Competitive Enterprise Institute since its founding in 1984 has been to promote deregulation. Government regulation of the economy blocks innovation and wealth creation. It also encourages damaging behavior such as rent-seeking and cronyism. Finally, it crowds out more effective forms of regulation such as market discipline.
The beneficial effects of deregulation were plain in the airline and freight rail industries. Deregulation begun in the Carter administration led to more flights at lower cost and to better rail infrastructure and much lower shipping costs. Yet, since the 1990s, successive administrations of different political stripes have piled on regulations, burdening the economy needlessly. We chart this problem every year in our Ten Thousand Commandments report.
The power of regulators now raises constitutional concerns. Regulators are often unaccountable, and their insulation from the checks and balances of the constitutional system suggests that they may in effect form a fourth branch of government. The use of guidance documents to avoid rulemaking procedures, for instance, can amount to government by decree. Deregulation is therefore essential to restore good constitutional order.
CEI advocates for both overall regulatory reform – changing the ways in which rules are made to make them more transparent and easier to remove – and for specific regulatory changes. Recent successes include recognition of our concerns in Executive Orders promoting deregulation and curtailing the use of guidance, and in the reflection of our comments in rules promulgated by agencies such as the Department of Labor and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Deregulation Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Allies
Antitrust and the Federal Trade Commission in 2023
Excerpt from Mark Jamison’s piece, Antitrust and the Federal Trade Commission in 2023 in the Washington Examiner. “Generally, Republicans have a limited appetite for…
Study
Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress
Congress is considering an onslaught of legislation targeting the largest tech platforms in the U.S., addressing topics such as mobile apps, advertising, merger review,…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The big news is that the Food and Drug Administration is poised to follow several other countries’ lead in approving one or more coronavirus vaccines.
Studies
Ten Thousand Commandments 2024
The hidden tax of regulation has proved appealing to lawmakers who feel the pressure of a national debt topping $34 trillion. Off-budget regulations requiring private…
Congress, Not Agencies, Should Answer Major Policy Questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. During the Biden administration, this has included…
Restoring Good Guidance Practices
Executive summary Federal agency guidance documents form a large and expanding part of the administrative state’s regulatory universe. These informal documents including memoranda, bulletins, and…
Blog
Longshoremen stood down when they realized wrecking the economy wasn’t popular
Thursday’s announcement that the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) was ending its strike at east coast and Gulf of Mexico ports after…
White House has several options in dockworkers strike, none of them good
President Biden likes to call himself “Blue Collar Joe” and declare his support for union workers, but his administration has been…
Free the Economy podcast: Reforming red tape in the states with James Broughel
In this week’s episode we cover striking dock workers at US ports, free-market innovation in healthcare, and the changing pattern of federal…
News
US adds 254,000 jobs in September signaling a strong economy: CEI analysis
The US economy added 254,000 jobs in September, beating out economists’ predictions and indicating that the economy remains strong. While wages continue to rise…
Union Members Right to Know Act would protect union-worker rights and promote transparency
Three and a half decades after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Communications Workers of America v. Beck, the rights afforded by that decision are understood…
Port strike threatens another supply chain crisis: CEI analysis
Today marks the beginning of a union strike against East and Gulf Coast ports that could trigger a similar supply chain crisis like that of…
Op-Eds
DC Journal
Point: The Supreme Court Is Empowering Voters
The Supreme Court’s recent term signaled a monumental shift toward liberty as it rolled back the unchecked power of federal agencies and reaffirmed the constitutional…
Forbes
The Surprising Deregulation Legacy Of Jimmy Carter—And Why It Still Matters
In the Wall Street Journal, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm shared a compelling account of how President Jimmy Carter—who turns 100 October 1—has not received …
Fox News
5 insane Biden-Harris appliance regulations heading your way
It took an angry public reaction against proposed federal restrictions on gas stoves to get the Biden-Harris administration regulators to reconsider. But that…
Staff & Scholars
Kent Lassman
President and CEO
- Capitalism
- Deregulation
- Innovation
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
Iain Murray
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
- Banking and Finance
- Trade and International
Dan Greenberg
General Counsel
- CEI Litigation
- Legal Studies
- Property Rights
Devin Watkins
Attorney
- CEI Litigation
- Government Transparency
- Legal Studies
David S. McFadden
Attorney
- Law and Litigation
- Legal Studies
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
James Broughel
Senior Fellow
- Deregulation
- Energy and Environment
- Innovation