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
Congressional Review Act can cancel three bad appliance regs
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is the easiest way for Congress to block some of the bad regulations enacted under the Biden administration. A resolution…
The Washington Times
Retail industry projects surge in post-Christmas regifting and returns
The Washington Times quoted CEI’s expert on regifting in the retail industry The problem is that regifting ‘can suggest a certain laziness on the part…

Blog
Consumers benefit from access to Buy Now, Pay Later options
In a rapidly evolving retail landscape, with more and more commerce moving online, there has been a rise of financial technology (or fintech) tools. These…
Search Posts
Blog
Robots Are Here to Make Your Job Safer and Cleaner
Positive stories about win-win results from the march of automation are everywhere in our economy, but they don’t get told and repeated enough. The workers…
Blog
Deregulation Is an Effective Pandemic Defense
In a new op-ed in RealClearMarkets, Iain Murray and Ryan Young outline the major points of CEI’s just-released #NeverNeeded paper, which identifies regulations harmful to…
Blog
EPA Inspector General Report Could Exacerbate Medical Supply Shortages
As hospitals struggle to access sterile medical supplies, the EPA Inspector General released a report that could make things worse. It alleges that EPA officials…
Blog
FDA Four-Month Delay Not Enough to Save E-Cigarette Industry
To fight the coronavirus, many states have pressed pause on certain rules and regulations. Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed an order lifting the state ban…
Blog
Greenpeace’s Swing and Miss Reveals Its Hypocrisy about Health Risks from Reusable Bags
According to Greenpeace, my recent article on the sanitary benefits of single-use plastic bags is part of an effort to “exploit” COVID-19 fears and promote…
Blog
House Democrats’ Third Coronavirus Supplemental Appropriation Bill Is an Outrage
The Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act is the most irresponsible piece of fiscal legislation to come out of the profligate Congress for a…
Blog
Regulation, Not Offshoring, Is Hindering Industry from Ramping up Production
In his latest Bloomberg column, Noah Smith argues that offshoring production led to the current shortage of medical masks and equipment in the face of…
Blog
Toilet Paper Economics: Emergency Capitalism Still Better Than Normal Socialism
There are quite a few hot takes circulating at the moment about how grocery stores temporarily running out of toilet paper amid the current coronavirus…
Blog
Liberty in the Time of Coronavirus Part 1
A recent headline at The Atlantic declared, “There are No Libertarians in an Epidemic.” But, just as there are atheists in foxholes, there are libertarians…
National Review
Pandemics, Stimulus, and the Limitations of Flash Policy
Over the past two weeks, America has faced the onset of a pandemic, an oil-price war, and a stock-market crash. In the face of these…
Fox News
AOC Criticized For ‘Inapt’ Comparison Between Fed’s Coronavirus Response And Student Loan Debt Relief
Fox News cites Senior Fellow Richard Morrison on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments on the coronavirus: But according to Competitive Enterprise Institute fellow Richard Morrison, Ocasio-Cortez was…
News Release
Report: Federal Dietary Guidelines Put Eating Disorder Sufferers at Risk
Federal dietary guidelines and government-mandated calorie disclosures can adversely impact people who suffer from restrictive eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, a new Competitive Enterprise…
Study
How Federal Policy Puts Eating Disorder Sufferers at Risk
Around 8 million Americans suffer from clinically significant eating disorders that drive them to develop and maintain unhealthy, and sometimes fatal, eating habits. The American…
Blog
HHS Price Disclosure Rule Will Not Make Medicines More Affordable
In his State of the Union Address, President Trump renewed his commitment to “lower[ing] the cost of health care and prescription drugs” and “requir[ing] drug…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter to the White House on Vaping
Dear Mr. President We urge you to preserve access to life-saving alternatives to cigarettes for the millions of adults who rely on electronic cigarettes and…
Comment
Michelle Minton Testimony on Flavored Tobacco Products
Thank you for giving the public an opportunity to provide input as you consider this proposal. I sincerely hope you listen to the testimony you’ll…
Blog
Dangerously Inaccurate Reporting on Vaping-Linked Outbreak Persists
Coverage of the outbreak of illness linked to “vaping” has been handled poorly in general, but the New York Post's recent reporting is especially egregious.
Forbes
Trump: Free The Dishwashers!
Forbes cites CEI on dishwasher inefficiencies: The Competitive Enterprise Institute calculated that dishwasher cycle time 40 years ago was…
Newsweek
Trump Says Water Efficiency Standards Mean Showers, Toilets and Dishwashers Don’t Work Properly
Newsweek cites General Counsel Sam Kazman on CEI’s dishwasher petition: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free market group which lobbies for consumer…
Blog
CDC Confirms Black Markets, not “Vaping,” Caused Outbreak
A new CDC report puts the final nail in the coffin of the idea that the spat of lung injuries that occurred beginning last summer…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on Surprise Billing
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, Leader Schumer, and Whip Scalise, The undersigned groups representing millions of taxpayers and consumers around the country urge…
Reason
House-Passed Budget Deal Raises Age to Buy Cigarettes to 21
Reason cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarettes. As Michelle Minton, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, pointed out in a…
Townhall
The Black Market Is the Real Problem with Vaping
Townhall cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarettes and the black market. But, as Michelle Minton of the Competitive Enterprise Institute stated after…
The Hill
Trump Admin Moves Ahead with Plans to Weaken Efficiency Standards for Quick Dishwashers
The Hill cites General Counsel Sam Kazman on CEI’s dishwasher petition. “The current dishwasher rules are a royal pain for huge numbers of…
NewsMax
Report: Energy Dept. Seeks to Permit Faster Dishwashers
Newsmax cites CEI’s dishwasher petition. The proposal follows a petition by Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a libertarian think tank, per the report.
News Release
Trump’s E-Cigarette Flavor Ban Will Jeopardize Public Health
Today the Trump FDA announced a ban on flavored vape products, except for menthol or tobacco flavors. Manufacturers will have 30 days to cease making…
Blog
Mitt Romney Made Millions off Cigarettes, Now He Wants to Kill its Competition
Though they (probably) aren’t car surfing or eating Tide pods, lawmakers and government bureaucrats are as susceptible to passing fads as bored teenagers. For government…
Blog
2019: A Great Year for Light Bulb Freedom
Whatever else one may say about 2019, it was a banner year for consumer choice when it comes to light bulbs, culminating in the December…
The Washington Examiner
Beware ‘Eco-Friendly’ Christmas Gifts that Are No Such Thing
If you are looking to find some eco-friendly holiday gifts and decorations this year, be careful what advice you follow. Intentional or not, many suggestions…
Blog
Blame Anti-Tobacco Advocates for Youth Vaping “Epidemic”
Like most teenage crazes, youth interest in e-cigarettes once seemed a passing fad. In the early years youth vaping skyrocketed, but by 2016 began to…
Citation
VIDEO: The Impact of Prescription Drug Price Controls: An International Policy and Patient Perspective
To address the cost of prescription medicines, the Trump administration and congressional leaders have proposed instituting international reference pricing policies, like the International Pricing Index…
News Release
CEI Urges Opposition of S. 2754, the “American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2019”
In response to the introduction of this bill, CEI Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman said: …
Blog
Tobacco 21: Feel-Good Policy Could Backfire
Amid an outbreak of “vaping-linked” lung illnesses, a campaign of fear against vaping has reached a frenzied peak. For years, the Food and Drug Administration…
News Release
CEI Report Disputes Claims Tobacco 21 Laws Reduce Teen Smoking
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report questions whether laws that hike the purchase age for tobacco and e-cigarette products to 21 actually reduce smoking rates…
Study
The Push to Raise the Legal Age to Buy Tobacco to 21 Has Little Basis in Fact
The notion that raising the tobacco purchasing age to 21 helps reduce adolescent smoking seems plausible enough. But there is little evidence in support of…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Support Trump Light Bulb Reform
The Bush and Obama administrations imposed a number of restrictions on light bulbs, but the Trump administration is pushing back on behalf of consumers. Today,…
The Wall Street Journal
Why the U.K. Isn’t Having Problems with Vaping
The Wall Street Journal cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarettes: Michelle Minton of the Competitive Enterprise Institute says: “A ban on flavors,…
Citation
Understanding a “Temporary” Vaping Ban
Vaping Post cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarette bans: “There is every reason to believe that those interested in “temporary” bans will…
Forbes
Don’t Make the Vaping ‘Crisis’ Worse with Hasty New Regulations
Forbes cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarettes:…
Blog
CEI Report: Universities Misuse Federal Children’s Environmental Health Grants to Pursue Political Agenda
For more than two decades the federal government has funded a number of “children’s environmental health centers.” Since they are housed in universities, you might…
Blog
In Praise of Pro-Consumer Tenure of Finance Regulator Kraninger
As she prepares to give her semi-annual testimony to Congress this week—on Wednesday to the House Financial Services Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and on Thursday…
Blog
Killing Us with Kindness: Democrats’ War on Vaping Costs Lives
Liberals are supposed to the ones whose hearts “bleed” with concern for others’ welfare. That’s why modern liberals generally reject an abstinence-only approach to regulation.
The Wall Street Journal
Make Dishwashers That Clean Again
The Wall Street Journal cites CEI’s petition to the DOE on dishwashers: In March 2018 the folks at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a…
Inside Sources
5 Reasons Trump Is Right to Save Incandescent Light Bulbs
Americans will have more freedom of choice now that the Trump administration’s Department of Energy has set about undoing Obama-era regulations targeting incandescent light bulbs in favor…
Inside Sources
Air Conditioning – Saving Lives but Getting No Love
Every summer brings heat waves, but recent summers have also brought waves of criticisms about air conditioning. We are told that it is unnecessary, unhealthy and…
The Orlando Sentinel
CON: E-cigarette Flavor Ban Ineffective and Dangerous
Never let a crisis go to waste. That could be the official motto for the anti-tobacco industry, which has irresponsibly exploited this summer's sudden outbreak…
News Release
Trump Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes Will Cost Lives
President Trump today indicated his administration plans to seek a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, citing concerns over teen vaping and the spate of recent, much-reported…
Blog
Gene Editing Can Improve Health Outcomes for the Poor
Gene editing, specifically somatic gene therapy, cures maladies with traceable genetic origins. This revolutionary science is rapidly advancing, but not without major setbacks. Regulations designed…
News Release
CDC Putting Lives at Risk with Warning Against E-Cigarettes
Today, the Centers for Disease Control put out a dire warning against use of e-cigarettes in the aftermath of a spate of recent lung illnesses…
Blog
Loco Four Loko Hysteria
It’s only a matter of time before Phusion Projects' new hard seltzer hits shelves, which means that it’s only a matter of time before alarmists…