The Competitive Enterprise Institute believes the proper role for government is to provide consumers with accurate, unbiased guidance that informs consumer choice. But, whether it is the substances we prefer, how we entertain ourselves, what dietary habits we maintain, or how we pursue personal health, consumers ought to have the right to make decisions for themselves.
Consumer Freedom Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
The market has spoken: Consumers define the relevant video market
Washington loves drama, and recent debates over video industry consolidation have delivered plenty – billions of dollars at stake, congressional theatrics, and political posturing. But…
Study
The Environment, the Law, Markets, and the Path Forward
Introduction The Pharos Foundation at Jesus College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, invited me to speak at an on-campus forum in May.
Blog
Red tape, green bribes: Deregulation as an anti-corruption strategy
Corruption in politics is often thought of in narrower terms, such as bribes, kickbacks, or high-profile scandals with millions of dollars of fraud. However, political…
Search Posts
Blog
Alcohol Crimes Decline in Washington After Liquor Sales Privatization
In the lead up to Washington State voters approving privatization of liquor sales in the state, opponents claimed—as they always do—that the increased availability and…
Blog
Is Katy Perry Causing Childhood Obesity?
No, of course not! However, a coalition of health advocates seems to be making that assertion when they sent her a letter this week…
Blog
The NSA: Upgrading from Privacy Destruction to Job Destruction
At a recent Cato Institute event on NSA spying activities, the ACLU’s Chris Soghoian stated that NSA activities were not only a threat to…
Blog
Sugar Policy Drives Out Candy Companies
“Cheaper sugar sends candy makers abroad” says a headline in today’s Wall Street Journal (gated). The article noted that increasingly U.S. candy makers are…
Citation
Cuts can be made, but politicians have to want to make them
The program costs $9 billion annually and really should be eliminated since crop insurance is commercially available. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, even a…
Blog
Loosened Laws in New Jersey Result in Brewery Boom
Only a year after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law that would allow breweries in the garden state to sell beer…
Blog
Costly Anti-Bullying Programs Backfire
Countless tax dollars have been spent on anti-bullying programs, and 49 states have anti-bullying laws. After New Jersey passed a broad anti-bullying law, hundreds of schools…
Blog
Enviro Scare Tactics Undermine Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is “breast cancer awareness month” thanks to a collaborative campaign arranged by public and private groups united in the mission to fight breast…
Blog
Don’t Believe the Hype: Your Food Is as Safe as Ever
Supporters of big government are taking advantage of a Salmonella outbreak linked to raw chicken to condemn Republican lawmakers and…
Blog
Are California Droughts Natural or Man Made?
A ongoing battle in court and public opinion rages in California over the environmental status of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (both rivers meet, and…
Blog
Obamacare Quadruples Rates for Some, Subsidizes Some Wealthy Who Retired Early
Due to Obamacare, North Carolina "will see individual-market" health insurance rates "triple for women, and quadruple for men." In Tennessee, Obamacare will…
Blog
Green Policies Translate Into Less Food, Higher Prices
Thanks to misguided bureaucracy and fear mongering from environmental activists, myriad valuable products are disappearing from the marketplace. Walmart, Proctor & Gamble, and…
Blog
Don’t Nudge On Me
In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks describes American culture as “mentally lazy.” Overcoming that, he argues, requires a dose of what he calls…
Blog
Student Barred from Handing Out Constitution on Constitution Day, In Sad Sign of the Times
At Modesto Junior College, a student was prevented from handing out copies of the Constitution on Constitution day. He was also "told he needed to fill…
Blog
House to Consider Separate Food Stamp Bill Later Today
H.R. 3102, the “Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013’’ will be considered on the House floor later today. The 109-page bill, which…
Blog
Executive Branch Review of Federal Regulations — Still Highly Incomplete
In the 2014 fiscal budget proposal, the White House praised regulation of auto safety, energy efficiency and credit cards, and claimed, "…
Blog
A Thorough Education in Mediocrity
Success can pertain to personal satisfaction, an intangible, or outside validation (whether via spoken word, wealth, or popularity). Personal satisfaction may spring from accomplishing a…
Blog
Mississippi Should Tell CFPB to “Stop Spying on Me”
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is coming to Mississippi Wednesday and Thursday with a public forum on "access to information." A vital question for Mississippians to…
Legal Newsline
Plaintiffs win in Calif. lead paint case could threaten business, hit homeowners hard
Angela Logomasini, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who researches environmental regulatory issues, agrees that in the end, a ruling against defendants will…
Blog
Taxpayers Pay High Costs for Crop Insurance Subsidies
Bloomberg on September 9 published an in-depth article on the high costs of federal crop insurance – likely to be increased even more if…
Blog
Green Market Pressure Takes Toll on Consumer Choice
When environmentalists don’t have the political power to regulate away consumer choice, they sometimes can get industry to do the job for them. Most recently,…
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 5, 2013: A New Energy Drink Scare?
Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton puts a scary new study about energy drinks and children into its proper, non-scary context.
Breitbart
Study Discovers Problems With Parenting, Not Energy Drinks
More than half of all calls to Poison Control resulting from energy drinks involve accidental exposure by children under age six, according to a new…
The Hill
D.C. Abuzz About Energy Drinks
America’s politicians and media love a good public panic. And right now they’re having a field day touting the supposed dangers associated with energy drinks.
Blog
Historians Should Learn the Economic Way of Thinking
Simon Schama is one of the world’s great historians. Indeed, I am currently having my children watch his magisterial “History of Britain,” and they are…
Blog
New Mexico Court: Go Into Business, Lose Your First Amendment Rights
In Elane Photography v. Willock, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a wedding photographer violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act by…
Daily Caller
Today it’s ‘nudge squads,’ tomorrow it’s enforcement
It’s not yet true that the White…
Letters
Coalition for Sugar Reform’s “Sweet Facts”
Full Document Available in PDF Leading Free Market Advocates Say “Zero—for—Zero” Makes ZERO Sense • CATO Institute: “… [T]he sugar lobby, and…
Blog
Perspectives on Honeybees and Pesticides
If you believe the headlines, honeybees may soon be endangered, pesticides are to blame, and regulations offer an easy solution. Yet headlines belie the truth…
Daily Caller
Is ‘zero for zero’ a sugar industry ploy?
The U.S. sugar lobby is promoting a supposedly free market idea: to get rid of the U.S. sugar support program if Brazilian producers give up…
Daily Caller
New study proves menu labeling doesn’t work as promised
Does calorie labeling on restaurant menus encourage healthier eating? A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests not, concluding that calorie…
Blog
House National ID E-Verify Bill: 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes (And 5 Worker Protections it Excludes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
Blog
House National ID E-Verify Bill: 5 Worker Protections it Excludes (And 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
Blog
Bloomberg’s Soda Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Today, an appeals court ruled that New York City’s Board of Health overstepped its authority when, at the behest of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it attempted…
Blog
The Modified State of the GMO Debate
The debate over whether or not to label products of genetically modified (GM) crops has seen a small revival after the Natural Products Association, a…
Blog
Regulating E-Cigarettes Creates the Wrong Incentives
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is gearing up to regulate electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by early October. These regulations, rather than protecting the public…
Blog
Bad Science: CDC Forced to Reverse its Recommendations on Salt
Mother may know best, but Uncle Sam certainly doesn’t. In 1977, the federal government put a warning label on saccharine, claiming it caused cancer. It…
Blog
Obama’s BRAIN Initiative: Brilliant Policy or Brute Waste?
In April, President Obama announced a new BRAIN Initiative. Its stated goal is to “give scientists the tools they need to get a dynamic…
Blog
DHS Secretary Napolitano Resigns, TSA Body Scanner Scandal Remains Unresolved
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is resigning to become president of the University of California system. Republican politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)…
Daily Caller
House farm bill sows seeds for bigger legislative fight
The Competitive Enterprise Institute said the bill “greatly expands the crop insurance subsidy program.” Some subsidies could become permanent, too, because the bill repeals laws…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 11, 2013: Farm Bill Controversy
Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith breaks down the controversy surrounding this year's farm bill.
Blog
Scientists Warn of Dangers of “Precautionary Science”
Eighteen scientists recently weighed in on the unscientific and dangerous nature of the so-called “precautionary principle” in the July issue of the journal Food…
Blog
Senate Committee Passes ENDA, Which Would Lead to Meritless Litigation and Erode Free Speech
A Senate Committee has voted 15-to-7 to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, "a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis…
Blog
Farm Bill Bloat Should Be Voted Down
Today, CEI sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging a vote against the farm bill, H.R. 2642. The letter pointed out that…
Blog
SEC Finally Permits Free Speech for Hedge Funds, VCs, and Entrepreneurs
Today is finally the day that the Securities and Exchange Commission -- one year and three months after it was instructed to do so by…
Blog
Bioscience Buzzwords: Seductive Notion or a Way Forward?
Innovation- it’s the buzzword of the day. From President Obama’s State of the Union address to Foreign Policy’s latest cover story to initiatives to revive…
Blog
Is Agriculture Leadership Trying an End-Run?
Today, a coalition of 20 free-market and conservative groups, including CEI, sent a letter to Speaker of the House Boehner urging him to ensure…
Blog
Beauty and the Beast: Agriculture for the Future
It’s a tale as old as time. How will we feed all the people on this planet of ours, especially with the global population set…
Blog
New York State Bureaucrats Block Lyme Disease Control
As Americans gather outdoors to celebrate the 4th of July, ticks are also out — and in record numbers — particularly in certain places…
Blog
Her Majesty’s Initiative: Innovation for All?
On Monday, the Financial Times published an editorial praising the United Kingdom’s government for its “provisional approval” of a new in vitro fertilization (IVF)…
