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
The Forgotten History of the Wagner Act
Introduction President Joe Biden on April 26, 2021, announced the creation of a special Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. The purpose of the…
Four Principles for Real Permitting Reform
Federal legislators continue to focus on permitting reform. For example, the Senate is reportedly1 working on more ambitious reform than those recently enacted in the…
Ten Thousand Commandments 2022
View Full Report Here Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: unemployment that works with Matt Darling
In this week’s episode we talk about banning plastic gift cards in California, the solution to Germany’s energy crisis, the political…
Flawed guidance for monetizing nature should be withdrawn
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has proposed new guidance aimed at improving how federal agencies account for environment-related costs and…
Bill banning Fed-controlled crypto a good first step, but Congress must do more for monetary freedom
On Wednesday, the US House Financial Services Committee is expected to vote on House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s ‘‘CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act,” aiming to prevent…
News
Fed keeps interest rates the same but Washington politicians remain a threat: CEI analysis
As expected, the Federal Reserve today left interest rates unchanged at its Open Market Committee meeting today. CEI Senior Economist Ryan Young warns the…
187,000 jobs added in August 2023, with more people trying to get back to work: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August 2023, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent, according to data released Friday by the…
Grayscale Decision Curtails “Arbitrary and Capricious” SEC and Enhances Investor Options
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously ruled in Grayscale Investments v. SEC that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s denial…
Op-Eds
Frederick News Post
A new proposal for constitutional restoration
Now that Congress has gotten past debt-ceiling drama, next up is wrangling the nation’s budget for the coming year. A budget is about policy and…
Forbes
How Durbin & Co. Credit And Debit Card Controls Could Pave The Way For CBDCs
Central Bank Digital Currency – the digital form of a national currency that tracks transactions within a government digital ledger – is an idea that…
Forbes
Once-Promising Guidance Document Disclosures Are Stagnating Under Biden: Inventory and Observations
Laws passed by Congress are archived by subject matter in the U.S. Code. The rules and regulations that incubate in the daily Federal…
Staff & Scholars
John Berlau
Senior Fellow and Director of Finance Policy
- Banking and Finance
- Deregulation
- Financial Regulation
James Broughel
Senior Fellow
- Deregulation
- Energy and Environment
- Innovation
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Dan Greenberg
General Counsel
- CEI Litigation
- Legal Studies
- Property Rights
Sean Higgins
Research Fellow
- Deregulation
- Labor and Employment
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
Kent Lassman
President and CEO
- Capitalism
- Deregulation
- Innovation
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Angela Logomasini
Adjunct Fellow
- Chemical Risk
- Consumer Freedom
- Energy and Environment
Jeremy Lott
Managing Editor
- Capitalism
- Deregulation
Michelle Minton
Senior Fellow
- Consumer Freedom
- Consumer Product Safety
- Consumer Well-Being
Iain Murray
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
- Banking and Finance
- Trade and International
Ryan Radia
Research Fellow and Regulatory Counsel
- Intellectual Property
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms
- Privacy and Cybersecurity
Fran Smith
Adjunct Fellow
- Trade and International
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government
Devin Watkins
Attorney
- CEI Litigation
- Government Transparency
- Legal Studies
Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform