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
Washington’s Liquor Privatization Did Increase Prices, But Also Selection And Availability
Since selling off the state-owned liquor monopoly, many Washington State residents have noticed an unfortunate development; despite what proponents of privatization promised, the cost of…
Blog
Mother Tackles Hype About Chemicals On “Stossel”
The Independent Women’s Forum’s Senior Fellow Julie Gunlock takes on hype related to bisphenol A and chemicals in general on Fox Business Network’s…
Blog
Qualified Mortgage Rule Is One Of Many Dodd-Frank Boots To Drop
The first thing that should be said about today's "qualified mortgage" rule is that it is just one of many new regulations the Consumer Financial…
Cato
The Ripple Effects of Flawed Agbiotech Regulation
The modern techniques of genetic engineering—also known as biotechnology, recombinant DNA technology, or genetic modification (GM)—offer plant breeders the tools to make old crop plants…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: New Year Edition 2013
With a new year comes a new opportunity to take stock in our past endeavors and renew our goals for the future. While many a…
Blog
Feds Say Hybrid Electric Vehicles Too Quiet, Noisemakers Should Be Mandated
Green paternalists often gush about the great potential for hybrid electric automobiles to reduce negative externalities, or social costs, such as local air pollution and…
Blog
Basel III Cliff May Be Averted, But Dangers Still Loom For Main Street Banks
After numerous criticisms from U.S. community banks and lawmakers of both parties, the international committee in charge of the Basel III bank capital agreement…
Blog
Mice Study Questions BPA-Obesity Link
Science is a long-term process that only brings meaning when numerous, scientifically robust studies produce consistent results. But when it comes to politically loaded issues…
Cato
Alleged Conflict of Interest on FDA Tobacco Panel
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon has allowed a lawsuit seeking an injunction by R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco to proceed against the Tobacco Products…
Blog
Wheels In Motion To Crush Chemical Innovation
Chemical industry groups say they want to "modernize" the nation's chemical law by applying reasonable reforms that would prevent states from passing a patchwork…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Montreal mulls requiring dogs to be bilingual, USDA regulates polydactyl cats, plus more.
Blog
CEI Podcast For December 12, 2012: Ending The Beer Monopoly
Fellow in Consumer policy Studies Michelle Minton argues that the beer industry in America is essentially a monopoly. In her new paper "Avoid a Monopoly…
Study
Avoid a Beer Monopoly By Setting the Market Free
The number of craft breweries continues to rise as states free up the market, making it easier for brewers to produce and sell their products.
News Release
New Report: ‘Big Beer’ Embraces Free Market, Attacked by Liberal Group
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 11, 2012 — Big corporate beer interests seek to cut out the government-mandated middle man and let all breweries sell directly to…
Cato
Tobacco rules substitute one problem for another
“Cigar smoking knows no politics. It’s about the pursuit of pleasure, taste, and aroma,” someone once said. Premium cigars are enjoyed by adults as much…
Blog
Researchers Repudiate BPA Junk Science
The chemical bisphenol A (BPA) -- which is used to make hard, clear plastics and resins that line food containers -- regularly appears in news…
Blog
When Gridlock Is Good: The Case Of The Toxic Substances Control Act
When it comes to traffic, gridlock is never good. And in politics, it's a big problem when lawmakers can't agree on a plan to rescue…
Blog
The Temperance Movement Is Alive And Well
Today, Dec. 5, is the day to go out and raise a glass to celebrate the anniversary of the repeal of alcohol prohibition in the United…
Blog
What Is Green Chemistry?
Washington's state bureaucrats are soliciting proposals from "public and private sector firms to help create a technically competent and vibrant Green Chemistry Center to help…
Blog
American Capitalism Is More Compassionate Than European Socialism
America has not yet become Europe. And that’s a good thing. In Investor’s Business Daily, I empirically show that the American model of greater…
Blog
New Pressure On Schools To Adopt Quotas, Speech Codes, And Low Standards?
Lawsuits against schools and colleges have nothing to do with our troops and their needs. But that didn’t stop Senators from seeking to add a harmful…
Op-Eds
Senator Durbin is wrong on energy drinks ban
Several lawmakers have called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “do something” to protect the public from the alleged threat of energy…
Blog
CEI Podcast For November 27, 2012: Rachel Was Wrong
Senior Fellow Angela Angela Logomasini talks about her forthcoming CEI study, "Rachel Was Wrong: Agrochemicals’ Benefits to Human Health and the Environment."…
Blog
Intrade Is Only The Latest CFTC Outrage
Every so often, a government agency will do something so outrageous it will shock even even everyday critics of "big government," as well as draw…
Blog
Good Riddance! — SEC’s Schapiro Sabotaged Startup Law Supported By Obama
When President Obama appointed Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission four years ago, I kept an open mind and was even cautiously optimistic.
Blog
Myths About Thanksgiving
The first Thanksgiving didn’t usher in a time of plenty for the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims continued to confront the specter of starvation until they ditched…
Forbes
Regulatory Uncertainty Drives A Fish Farmer To Foreign Waters
Feeding 7 billion people is no small challenge. As it has from time immemorial, high quality protein harvested from the sea plays a major role…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Turkey Day 2012 Edition
While most people in the U.S. are fantasizing about turkey slathered in gravy, yams, and pumpkin pie right now, beer connoisseurs throughout the nation --…
Blog
Overhyped Energy Drink Reaction
As has been reported extensively, the Food and Drug Administration has received several recent reports of alleged side-effects sustained by consumers who have ingested energy…
Breitbart
Harry Reid’s Online Poker Folds on Freedom
The Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2012, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to introduce soon,…
Blog
Unionization Bad For TSA, Worse For Passengers
Along with the rising cost of bag fees, the most notorious nuisance air travelers must endure before reaching the terminal is the security checkpoint…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Election Hangover Edition
How did the election affect alcohol laws? Alcohol is regulated by states, cities, counties and towns, and hundreds of them had alcohol-related measures on the ballot Nov.
Blog
D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh Still Doesn’t Understand Driverless Cars
Last Sunday, The Washington Post published my op-ed criticizing the approach taken by Councilmember Mary Cheh's introduced legislation to legalize driverless cars in Washington,…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Election Day Edition
While Mitt may not drink, many of the voting public and the candidates themselves hope to celebrate/drown their sorrows at the bar while the returns…
Washington Examiner
Would a soda ban make D.C. thinner?
First, it was Mayor Michael Bloomberg telling New Yorkers what's good for them by banning large sodas. Is a Bloomberg-style schoolmarm mentality now coming to…
Blog
Scapegoating Free Speech To Hide Massive Government Failures?
Earlier, I wrote about how the U.S. government had scapegoated free speech for the terrorist attacks in Libya, claiming that the attacks were…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: October 19, 2012
The only real change of late seems to be happening to leaves on trees. But on the alcohol regulatory reform front, the following states have…
Blog
Free Education? Not In My State!
Coursera is a California-based startup that partners with top-tier universities to provide free online courses to people around the world. Sounds like a pretty great service,…
Blog
Of Mice, Mushrooms, And Formaldehyde
According to New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, the chemical industry is engaged in a grand conspiracy to hide the fact your kitchen cabinets…
Blog
New Study Questions Link Between Alcohol And Breast Cancer Risk
Every day, we make decisions about what to eat and drink that can affect our long-term health. Each individual is ultimately responsible for determining the…
Blog
Canadian Government Official Calls Anti-Abortion Speech Illegal “Bullying”
Bullying has been defined by opportunistic politicians to include a broad range of speech, including core political speech. The latest example is anti-abortion advocacy:…
Washington Examiner
A New Space Pioneer
This is the first operational private space flight,” Rand Simberg said; the adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute is an expert on space technology…
Blog
The CDC Thinks You Drink Too Much
If you’ve had twelve alcoholic drinks in the past year, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) considers you a “regular drinker.” That’s right: twelve…
Reason
Let Individuals Take Responsibility for Their Own Food Choices
From Baylen Linnekin's article in Reason: “Consumer groups play an essential role in a free market by [helping] individuals to make informed choices,”…
Orange County Register
A Losing Proposition on Food Labeling
California's initiative process – which allows "propositions" to be placed on the ballot quite easily – can lead to laws that are muddled, intentionally misleading…
Blog
Liberal Lawmakers To Rethink California “Green Chemistry”
California's Green Chemistry regulations have proven so unruly even the state's liberal lawmakers have begun to question the cost. The state legislature passed the…
Forbes
“Genetically Engineered” In California: A Food Label We Don’t Need
From “food miles” to farmers’ markets, it seems that consumers have never been more interested in the ways their food is grown. That’s one motivation…
Blog
Medical Junk Science: Canned Veggies May Make Kids Fat
Can feeding your child canned soup and vegetables make her fat? According to study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA),…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Columbus Day Edition
Alcohol has a long and complex history in the USA. In fact, it’s probable that the Scandinavian Vikings that tried to conquer North America…
Blog
Lose The Helmet Already
So now we’re down to safe v. healthy. The “safe” approach to riding a bike is to wear a helmet, according to the Nanny Statists…
