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
Op-Eds
Sugar Program Isn’t Sweet for Consumers or the Economy
Don’t look now, but here comes the farm bill, one of those catch-all legislative behemoths littered with wasteful programs and supported by entrenched special interests.
Citation
Profit Shouldn’t Be an Alien Concept
From The Gulf Coast Business Review: Although Star Trek fans are not alone in thinking it would be fun to take a cruise…
Blog
Another Dubious TSA Trifecta
Stolen iPads, harassing drag queens, and a former TSA chief calls for reform -- three years after his departure.
Op-Eds
Direct Alcohol Shipping To Minors Is Not a Public Safety Problem
(Also published by the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity) If you’ve ever had a remarkable local beer while traveling, you may…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 218: Bagpipes
Street musicians were recently banned from playing bagpipes in Vancouver, British Columbia. Just in time for the city’s Scotland Week celebration, Mayor Gregor Robertson happily…
Blog
San Francisco Judge Dismisses Lawsuit against McDonald’s over Happy Meals
"In San Francisco, Judge Richard Kramer has dismissed the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s lawsuit on behalf of parent Monet Parham seeking to…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 217: Being Rude
The mayor of La Torba, Spain recently issued a 65-point Courtesy Charter making it illegal to burp in public or slurp your soup, among other…
Citation
Could Legal ‘Loophole’ Lead to Land Claims on Other Worlds?”
From Alan Boyle’s post on MSNBC.com: The concept was unveiled last week by Rand Simberg, an adjunct scholar at the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise…
Citation
Stalking a Claim on the Moon
From Jeff Foust’s article in The Space Review: The current round in the debate over property rights in space started with the publication…
Citation
Legal Loophole May Pave Way For Private Ownership Of Outer Space
From Andres Jaregui’s article in The Huffington Post: A shift in policy could open up the moon and other celestial bodies to ownership…
Citation
Loophole Could Allow Private Land Claims on Other Worlds
From Adam Mann’s article in Wired: Full blown colonization and settlement of other planets, moons and even asteroids might actually happen, says space…
Blog
Witch Hunt Continues on Bisphenol A
This week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yet again reaffirmed the safety of the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), but the witch hunt for…
Citation
Ground Control To Major Tom…Keep It Local, Man…
From Anita Cooper’s article in RealtyBizNews: Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Adjunct Scholar, Rand Simberg, has been working to make the recognition of lunar property…
Blog
What Left-Wing Law Professors Really Think About You, and the Role of Lawyers
You're just a lab rat to be socially re-engineered by activist judges and lawyers -- who think they know how to run your life better…
Blog
Pink Slime and the Slimy Tactics of America’s Food Elitists
Last week, the Media Research Center’s Dan Gainor wrote a nice article examining how the mainstream media has been complicit in smearing…
Citation
GOP Elders Conflicted About Future NASA, Commercial Space Projects
From Gene J. Koprowski’s article in The Daily Caller: This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based free-market think tank, released a…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 216: Selling Ice Cream to Kids
A group of parents in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood want to ban ice cream vendors from parks. One parent wrote, “I should not have to…
Study
Homesteading the Final Frontier
A proposed law requiring the United States to recognize land claims off planet under specified conditions offers the possibility of legal, tradable land titles, allowing…
Citation
Free-Market Fans Encourage Rush for Off-Plant Real Estate
From Rebecca Boyle’s article in Popular Science: Getting to the moon is a noble and ambitious goal for any country, and other nations…
News Release
New Study Calls for Recognition of Private Property Claims in Space
Washington, D.C., April 2, 2012 – 150 years ago in 1862, amidst the bloodiest war in our nation’s history, the Lincoln administration had the foresight…
Blog
TSA Trifecta
First, a TSA manager at Dulles airport has been arrested for running a prostitution ring. Second, two Miami TSA employees were arrested for trashing a…
Blog
Congressional Blowout Over Cosmetics Law Reform
Today, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on cosmetics regulation to consider whether Congress should beef up federal…
Blog
Troubling Provisions Being Added to the Violence Against Women Act: Due Process Rights Threatened
Provisions are being added to the 1994 Violence Against Women Act that could undermine due process on campus and in criminal cases, as civil liberties…
Blog
Agricultural Innovation in the 21st Century: CEI on Capitol Hill
On Monday, I’ll be speaking at a Capitol Hill event sponsored by Americans for Choice and Competition in Agriculture, which also…
Blog
Paul Ryan (and Penn Jillette) vs. Entitlements
No sooner had Rep. Paul Ryan unveiled his new budget proposal than liberals were howling in rage and righteous indignation. What was it that infuriated them so?…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Mind-Controlled Prostheses
A breakthrough by researchers at Northwestern University is giving hope to millions of amputees that they might eventually regain some of the ability they…
Blog
A Bad Economy’s Silver Lining
The Economist hits the nail on the head — albeit a nail that has been well hit by many in the free market movement already.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 214: Flipping the Bird
Steven Pogue, 64, was cited by police for flipping the bird while driving in Ballwin, Missouri. He was exonerated on free speech grounds, and the…
Blog
Hate Crimes Conviction in Tyler Clementi Case, Which Fueled Anti-Bullying Panic and Assault on Free Speech
A New Jersey jury has convicted Dharun Ravi of hate crimes in the Tyler Clementi case, which created a furor over bullying that led…
Op-Eds
Let States Regulate Internet Gambling
This country has many serious problems to address, but an activity that millions of people around the world voluntarily enjoy, mostly without incident, is not…
Blog
Consumer Freedom and the Risks of Raw Milk
Earlier today, Nicole Ciandella linked to an essay by the John Locke Foundation's Fergus Hodgson, titled "The Absurdity…
Blog
EPA’s Toxic “Negotiation”
It's pretty amazing when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can essentially use extortion as a negotiating tool, and industry casts it as a plea…
Blog
Rhode Island’s Tanning Ban Could Backfire
Last week the Rhode Island Senate approved a measure banning the use of tanning salons for patrons under 18 years old. While I…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: March 13, 2012
Apparently, "March Madness" has stricken our state legislators who are in high gear introducing and considering proposed alcohol laws. There's so much going on, in…
Citation
Leave a Light On For Earth Hour
From Peter Roff’s column in the U.S. News & World Report: The modern environmental movement believes that mankind’s activities need to be regulated…
Blog
Science Washes Hype about “Toxic” Shampoo Down the Drain
Every now and then, government regulators manage to do something reasonable. Last week, the Canadians made a smart move by accepting hard science over hype…
Blog
Millionaire Collects Food Stamps; Food Stamps Cover Far More Than the Cost of Food
A millionaire in Michigan is collecting food stamps after winning the lottery. “Amanda Clayton, a 24-year-old from Lincoln Park, Michigan . . .
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Malaria Vaccine
You may remember last year when the Human Achievement Hour blog highlighted mosquito-zapping lasers which selectively kill female, blood sucking mosquitoes and reduces the…
Blog
Corporate Welfare for Farmers
In a recent blog post, I describe the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) Beef Promotion and Research "checkoff" program as corporate welfare. The agency’s Public…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: A Cure for Every Virus
A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory has created a treatment for viral infections that could effectively treat all…
Op-Eds
Too Fat? Too Thin? Progressive Policies Can Fix That!
Political projects that seek the perfectibility of man by using the coercive powers of the state have a long and checkered history – perhaps the…
Blog
Human Achievement Hour 2012: March 31, 8:30pm
It’s that time once again to show your support for human achievement by not participating in the World Wildlife Fund’s Dark Ages Hour, where…
Op-Eds
Is Drug War Driven Mass Incarceration the New Jim Crow?
Once in a great while a writer at the opposite end of the political spectrum gets you to look at a familiar set of facts…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: February 27, 2012
National: A Sioux tribe in South Dakota has filed a landmark suit against national beer makers for knowingly contributing the tribe's alcohol…
Citation
The Anti-GM Food Circus Rolls Through Connecticut
From the American Council on Science and Health’s “Health Facts and Fears”: But as Gregory Conko, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Blaming the Drink Is Loko
It’s a tragic story: a 13-year-old boy falls out of a moving car because he is drunk and opens the door to throw up.
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 16, 2012: Washington’s Prescription Drug Shortage
Patients are suffering from a nationwide shortage of more than 260 different prescription drugs, many of them for different types of cancer. Senior Fellow Greg…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 210: Transgendered Air Travelers
Canada is cracking down on the latest terrorist threat to innocent people everywhere: transgendered people. If their appearance doesn't match their ID's listed gender, they're…
Blog
Congress Seems Intent on Making Drug Shortages Worse
Now that the problem of prescription drug shortages has begun to affect children, members of Congress want to be seen as…
Blog
Maryland Weighs Discriminatory College Child Support Mandate
Married parents have no obligation to support their adult children, much less pay for their college education. But many Maryland legislators would like to force divorced…
