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The Hidden Costs of Interchange Fee Bans
The state of Illinois risks transforming the Land of Lincoln into the Land of Patchwork Price Controls. The Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (IFPA), passed…
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Welcome to the Machine
The transition toward superintelligence will come with serious risks—from economic disruption, to misuse in areas like cybersecurity and biology, to the loss of alignment…
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Three Reasons Tariffs Don’t Work
He just likes tariffs. President Trump’s decades-long love of tariffs comes from the heart. The intellectual arguments Trump and his aides use to justify…
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The ESA Amendments Act of 2025 Will Help Species
In 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted into law. Since that time, more than half a century ago, the law has been…
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Questions for Kevin Warsh
Kevin Warsh is President Trump’s choice to succeed Jerome Powell as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Warsh’s…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2026
Introduction Record federal spending and record-setting regulatory burdens often march in lockstep. New spending is straightforward to track, but regulations obliging the private sector…
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Giants of the Free Society
Introduction I was invited to deliver remarks to the Philadelphia Society on the subject, “Giants on Whose Shoulders We Stand: What We Owe to…
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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…
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Zombie Antitrust: Is Robinson-Patman a Dead Law Walking?
Introduction Lawrence O’Brien, well-known confidant and aide to the Kennedys at the height of their 1960s power, entitled his political autobiography No Final Victories.
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Stop Making Sense: Reviving the Robinson-Patman Act and the Economics of Intermediate Price Discrimination
I. Introduction Early in the 20th century, a new model for retail sales arose: chain stores. One chain, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), became America’s largest retailer…
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The Beauty of Regulatory Sunsets
Introduction In 2019, Idaho pioneered zero-based regulation (ZBR), an orderly approach to statewide regulatory reform. Like zero-based budgeting, ZBR starts with the presumption that…
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A Free Market is the Best Medicine
Introduction The pharmaceutical supply market is seeing extraordinarily high levels of innovation and consumer-benefiting evolution. The combination of a competitive market for generic drugs,…
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Free the Appliances!
Introduction The Department of Energy’s (DOE) appliance efficiency standards program has been in place for decades, subjecting nearly every major home appliance to multiple…
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Freedom, Broadcasting, and the Public Interest
Introduction The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is invoking the public interest to justify regulatory moves that would, in theory, force television and radio station…
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Frack to the Future
Introduction North Dakota is typically known for the Badlands, agriculture, Fargo (thanks, Coen brothers), cold weather, and its flat landscape. Yet, due to technological…
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I, Pharmaceutical
The global pharmaceutical industry is complex. This is true not only in the number of countries involved but the range of products, the sets…
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‘Contradictory to Our Country’s Laws’
Introduction In the first days of the second Trump administration, elusive aspirations of confining agencies of the federal government to their legitimate functions suddenly…
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Corporate Social Irresponsibility
Executive summary State and municipal governments across America are engaged in a massive transfer of public resources to private corporate interests in the name of…
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Laboratories of Bureaucracy
Introduction The United States faces significant challenges in modernizing its infrastructure and meeting evolving energy needs. One of the obstacles is the complex and…
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End IRA Subsidies Now
Introduction “The first lesson of economics is scarcity,” wrote economist Thomas Sowell. By contrast, “The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first…
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Universal Service Subsidies Have Failed
Introduction In 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the indeterminacy of Section 254 (§ 254 hereafter) of…
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Trade Under Blockade
Introduction President Donald Trump threw the world trading system into disarray with his “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2, 2025. The principles behind the…
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Pumping the Brakes on Reform
This report examines Michigan’s recent permitting reforms, highlighting how some productive efforts to enhance accountability and efficiency have largely stalled. While the state took…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2025
Introduction Record federal debt is contributing to record-setting regulatory burdens. While new spending programs show up in budget figures, new regulations requiring the private…
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Powering Intelligence: Meeting AI’s Energy Needs in a Changing Electricity Landscape
Introduction The electric grid is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure underpinning modern life, yet it faces growing threats from increased demand,…
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Aloha Approvals
Hawaii’s permitting system is at a critical juncture, faced with the dual challenges of rebuilding in the wake of the 2023 Maui wildfires and…
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Modernizing the EPA: A Blueprint for Congress
Forward Kent Lassman, President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Reorganization Plan No.
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Free to Prosper
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Feeling Minnesota
Minnesota’s efforts to streamline environmental permitting under former Gov. Mark Dayton (D) initially saw some success, with reforms aimed at reducing approval times for…
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FTC Flunks Interim Report
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Basketball vs. Bureaucracy
North Carolina’s permitting reforms in recent years have significantly reshaped the state’s regulatory landscape, focusing on accelerating project approvals and reducing bureaucratic delays. Key changes…
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Climate Disclosure’s Triple Threat
Introduction Financial regulators from the US federal government, California, and Europe have each recently adopted climate disclosure rules for companies. These environmental, social, and…
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Mardi Gras for Permits
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s (LDEQ) Expedited Permit Program, established in 2006, represents an innovative approach to speeding up environmental permit approvals. This…
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No Permission Needed
Robust, resilient, and high-capacity internet service is critical to America’s economic prosperity and success. A key part of internet service is Wi-Fi, which provides…
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Evaluating Telehealth
Executive Summary Why Did We Write This Report Telehealth—the use of remote audio and/or video technologies to provide health care services—has…
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Permanently in Recovery
Washington state has made some significant strides in reforming its environmental permitting processes through its Permit Timelinesss initiative. The Governor’s Office for Regulatory Innovation…
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Boosting Business in the Desert
Recent permitting reforms in Arizona have focused on streamlining regulatory processes to improve the state’s business climate. Developments include passage of the 2023 Permit…
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The Innovation Imperative
The Competitive Enterprise Institute recently celebrated its 40th anniversary in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh was chosen because the city was celebrating the 300th anniversary of…
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Corn Whiskey Clarity
Over the past two decades, Iowa has implemented several reforms aimed at enhancing the efficiency of its environmental permitting procedures. This report focuses on…
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The Supreme Court’s New New Deal
In the final weeks of its 2024 term, the Supreme Court of the United States issued several opinions that transform the nation’s regulatory climate.
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Empire State of Mind
Executive Summary New York State’s environmental permitting procedures represent a mixed bag. On the one hand, the Uniform Procedures Act (UPA), signed into law…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2024
The hidden tax of regulation has proved appealing to lawmakers who feel the pressure of a national debt topping $34 trillion. Off-budget regulations requiring…
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How to Keep the Lights On
A reliable electrical grid is essential to all aspects of daily life. Power keeps the lights on, appliances running, and keeps our homes warm…
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Congress, Not Agencies, Should Answer Major Policy Questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. During the Biden administration, this has…
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Distilling Efficiency
Colorado has made notable efforts to streamline its environmental permitting processes over the past few decades through initiatives like the Colorado Joint Review Process…
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Climate Disclosure Spam
Introduction “Despite cost-saving changes from the proposed rule, the final rule will prove expensive for public companies and their shareholders who will be paying…
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Transparency on Tap
The Commonwealth of Virginia has been implementing a Virginia Permit Transparency (VPT) initiative over the last several years, which includes an online permitting portal…
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Restoring Good Guidance Practices
Executive summary Federal agency guidance documents form a large and expanding part of the administrative state’s regulatory universe. These informal documents including memoranda, bulletins,…
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Champagne Regulations on a Beer Budget
Regulation is often regarded as akin to a tax, albeit one that takes place off of the government’s books. Similar to a value-added tax,…
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Adam Smith’s guide to life, loveliness, and the modern economy
Introduction: Going strong at 300 Ryan Young This essay collection celebrates Adam Smith’s 300th birthday. He is best known for being the first…
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Achieving Change at the Federal Trade Commission
Introduction “Never mistake activity for achievement.” – John Wooden Although small in budget, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sometimes had an outsized impact. Created to fulfill…
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Myths and Facts in Radiation Risks
Introduction Nuclear power is probably the only known energy source that can support the world’s growing energy needs while simultaneously reducing global carbon dioxide…
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Major Questions on Net Neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised once again to change and classify broadband internet access service (BIAS), the mass market wireline and wireless…
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Breaking the Backlog
Pennsylvania has a long history of reforming its environmental permitting practices to improve efficiency. Despite periods of progress and some improvements in…
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Forcing the UN’s Hand on China
Most United Nations (UN) environmental treaties are a bad deal for America that are made worse by classifying China as a developing nation and…
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Toward a US-Swiss Trade Agreement
This paper examines the benefits and challenges of a potential free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and Switzerland. Such an agreement would…
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Big Problems with SEC Climate Disclosure Mandate
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finalizing its mandatory climate disclosure rule[1] that will require publicly traded companies to provide…
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Don’t Depower Crypto
Introduction In President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget blueprint,1 the president proposed a new tax aimed at the electricity use caused by cryptocurrency mining.
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Conflict of Justice
Introduction Imagine that a federal agency has charged you with violating a law or regulation, and you have to defend yourself in court. But…
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A Global Antitrust Paradox?
Executive summary In today’s Washington, bipartisan consensus is rare. But at least two points of consensus remain. The first is that America’s defining geopolitical…
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Four Hot Issues at COP28
Over 75 different agenda items will be discussed and negotiated in Dubai at the 28th annual Conference of the Parties of the United Nations…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2023
View Full Report Here Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations,…
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The UN’s Annual Climate Conference
I remember the first Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) I participated in.1 It was back…
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Rules for Robots – A framework for governance of AI
Introduction With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies in recent years, we have seen increasing calls for regulation to mitigate…
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The World Needs More Lawyers
This study was originally authored for the Regulatory Transparency Project at The Federalist Society By Shoshana Weissmann, Daniel Greenberg, Luke Wake, Braden Boucek…
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A Free Market Solution for Drug Distribution
Executive summary This paper describes and explains the function of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) in the American health care economy. PBMs are private…
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Threats Then and Threats Now
Executive summary In 1971 Lewis Powell, a prominent Republican lawyer who would go on to serve on the Supreme Court, wrote a memo warning…
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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…
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FTC’s Subscription Deception
Proposed Negative Option Rule has no opt-out from bureaucratic overreach Introduction The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a Negative* Option Rule Notice…
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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…
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Unauthorized and Unprepared: Refocusing the CDC after COVID-19
Executive Summary What This Paper Covers The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s preeminent public health agency, has acknowledged that it failed…
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Global Infrastructure Permitting
Executive Summary The construction of major infrastructure projects, such as power plants, highways, and ports, is heavily regulated. In major industrial economies, such projects…
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Constitutional Restoration: How to rebuild the separation of powers
Introduction A specter is haunting America—the specter of unlimited government. A central feature of our Constitution is that it restricts the federal…
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Permitting reforms, finally
Introduction The United States has one of the world’s most burdensome, time-consuming, and unpredictable systems for authorizing major infrastructure projects. The centerpiece of…
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Five Myths of Civil Forfeiture
Executive Summary Every year, federal, state, and local government agents take—and permanently keep—billions of dollars of Americans’ property through civil forfeiture. The practice…
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M&As Are A-Okay
Fretting about “killer acquisitions” and “kill zones” is common among regulators in Washington these days, but entrepreneurs and investors at work in the tech…
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Inside the Carbon Cult
Foreword Kevin D. Williamson has a pretty good claim to being the best columnist in the United States right now. I don’t say that…
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Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right to Repair
Should you have the legal right to fix your own stuff? At first glance, the answer would seem like a simple “yes.” That simple…
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Turning Back the Clock: Structural Presumptions in Merger Analyses and Revised Merger Guidelines
Introduction Since 1950, when Congress closed a loophole in Section 7 of the Clayton Act,[1] the federal antitrust agencies have investigated actively, and prosecuted diligently, mergers the…
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Freedom Wins
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Joel M. Zinberg, M.D., J.D. is the Director the Public Health and American Well-Being Initiative at Paragon Health Institute, and…
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Climate Fact Check January 2023
Presented by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Heartland Institute, Energy & Environment Legal Institute, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), the International Climate…
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Climate Fact Check 2022
Presented by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Heartland Institute, Energy & Environment Legal Institute, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the International…
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Free to Prosper
Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 118th Congress highlights specific steps lawmakers can take to prevent overreach by executive branch agencies, reduce the…
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Memoirs of a Prosecutor
Foreword Viewers who have seen the classic TV detective show Dragnet will recall the lines that introduced each episode: “The story you are about…
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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,…
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Unleashing America’s Energy Abundance
As a side deal to the Inflation Reduction Act of August 2022, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreed to streamline infrastructure…
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Strategies to Improve the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan
Few policy issues are as crucial to the future of U.S. national security and global economic competitiveness as the development of artificial…
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How Regulatory Sandbox Programs Can Promote Technological Innovation and Consumer Welfare
Around the world, leading financial centers seek to attract companies capable of developing innovative financial products and services. From blockchain-based payments to alternative credit…
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A Market Approach to Regulating Stablecoins, the Future’s Money
Executive Summary The cryptocurrency sector experienced its most successful year to date in 2021. Familiar digital assets Bitcoin and Ethereum hit record values,…
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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,…
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How Congress and the Federal Communications Commission Can Help Improve Affordable Internet Access to Underserved Populations
June 30, 2022 …
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The Case for Letting Crises Go to Waste
Executive Summary An Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act to reaffirm boundaries of politicians and the legislation they can pass has become necessary to the survival…
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The SEC’s Costly Power Grab
The concept known as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing has gained an increasingly high profile in recent years, with advocates producing a large…
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The European Union’s Digital Markets Act Seeks to Regulate Competition with Little Regard to Impact on Consumers
Henrique Schneider is the deputy CEO of the Swiss Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises Coming full circle: For much of the 19th…
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Five Myths of Civil Forfeiture
Executive Summary Every year, federal, state, and local government agents take—and permanently keep—billions of dollars of Americans’ property through civil forfeiture. The practice…
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Don’t Confuse the Platform with the Train
Executive Summary Should social media companies be regulated like common carriers? To answer that question, this paper describes the functions and origins of social…
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The State Antitrust Paradox
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY American antitrust law is the bedrock of competition policy in the United States. It has also proven among the most intellectually challenging…
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Central Bank Digital Currencies Threaten Global Stability and Financial Privacy
Executive Summary As digital currencies go mainstream around the world, governments and international financial bodies are seeking to develop ways to regulate them. Some…
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The High Costs of the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act
Concerns about plastics waste in the world’s oceans have raised genuine issues about the impact of plastics on the environment. In response, Sen. Jeff…
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Why Carbon Taxes Are Anti-Growth, Anti-Consumer, and Politically Dangerous for Conservatives
A tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, contrary to its advocates’ claims, is a market-rigging policy, not a free market one. Its purpose is…