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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 one of…
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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 emissions.1…
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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 broadband…
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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 average review…
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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 thus…
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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 do…
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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 the…
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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. Known…
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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 you…
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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 challenge…
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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 Framework…
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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, and…
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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 in…
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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 the…
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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 and Jonathan…
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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 businesses that…
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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 about…
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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 the…
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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 of…
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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 the…
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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 badly…
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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 typically…
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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 government’s powers. These…
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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 that system…
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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 of civil…
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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 industry…
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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 lightly.
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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 answer…
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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 government…
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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 a senior…
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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 Science…
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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 Climate…
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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 costs…
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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 to…
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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, and…
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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 permitting.
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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 intelligence (AI)…
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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 scoring…
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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, as the…
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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, merger review,…
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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 of limited…
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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 volume…
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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 century, “trusts”…
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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 of civil…
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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 media…
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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 areas…
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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 countries…
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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 Merkley…
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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 to…