Research -- CEI

‘World News Tonight’ spells gloom and doom for the world if climate change isn’t tamed (more)

Now, there has come along a fellow who thinks air conditioning is a bane rather than a boon and hankers for the offices of the 1940s (more)

Physicians and patients often have access to drugs and devices that can treat certain illnesses, but which have been approved by the FDA for other uses. This practice, called “off-label” prescribing (more)

Commentary on the individual state health care lawsuits, the current economic climate and the media coverage of the tea party protests (more)

When it comes to our economy, where are we going, and why are we in this hand-basket? That’s a question worth answering before Congress reauthorizes legislation to boost government investment in science and technology and, in turn, manufacturing (more)

Eminent domain jumped to the fore of America’s political consciousness on June 23, 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the City of New London, Connecticut’s decision to condemn several parcels of privately held property using eminent domain. At issue in Kelo v. City of New London was a comprehensive redevelopment plan designed to support a new research facility of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. (more)

Over the past three decades, collaborative arrangements between academic biomedical researchers and private industry have grown dramatically, resulting in medical innovations that have benefited society greatly. However, a growing chorus of criticism directed at private companies that sponsor and conduct biomedical research casts doubt on the very ethos of science (more)

As Congress moves forward with its health care reform efforts, a last-minute proposal to revoke the 64-year-old exemption from federal antitrust laws for health insurers has flown under the media radar. Proponents of the repeal proposal tout it as a broadly popular effort to slow the consolidation of the health insurance industry and promote more vigorous price competition. (more)

In Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court legislated from the bench, authorizing and indeed pushing EPA to control emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) for climate change purposes. This is a policy decision of immense economic and political magnitude that Congress never intended or approved when it enacted and amended the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). Regulating GHGs under the CAA leads inexorably to “absurd results,” including an economically-chilling administrative quagmire. (more)

In recent years, the use of credit and debit cards to purchase goods and services has surged in the United States, and American consumers pay with “plastic” now more than ever before. The growth in popularity of payment cards has benefi ted greatly both consumers and retailers. Innovations in electronic payment networks have improved the effi ciency of business transactions, enabled seamless and secure digital commerce, and provided consumers with valuable tools for saving money and (more)

EPA should withdraw its proposal to establish GHG emission standards for new motor vehicles. The proposed standards: (1) lack an adequate scientific basis; (2) will increase the risk of death and injury related to auto accidents; and (3) will spawn an economically-chilling regulatory morass. (more)

Encouraging property mitigation against catastrophes like floods and storms has become a major area of consensus for people on all sides of the debate over coastal insurance in hurricane-prone areas. Insurance regulators, advocacy groups across the political spectrum, and legislators all emphasize its importance. Mitigation essentially consists of efforts to prevent damage from disasters before the disasters take place.  But in a broader sense, mitigation can refer to almost anything, (more)

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) promulgated new, stricter regulations for diesel truck emissions, last December, that significantly reduce the amount of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions allowed in the state. Diesel PM 2.5 is made up of fine particles of soot from diesel emissions that can be inhaled deeply into the lungs, and is often blamed for premature deaths. However, California’s new regulation will do nothing to improve public (more)

Full document available in pdf There are currently several proposals to create national regulation for insurance. Currently, insurers operating in a given state must operate under that state’s insurance laws. A federally chartered insurance company would have to obey all general state business regulations, but it would be regulated by a new federal bureau, which would enforce the same insurance-specific laws throughout the country. (more)

This comment is divided into two main parts. The first part addresses the scientific basis of the Endangerment Proposal as discussed in EPA’s proposed rule and the related Technical Support Document (TSD).  The second part addresses the legal basis and regulatory implications of the Endangerment Proposal, drawing upon EPA’s July 2008 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Regulating Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act. (more)

Climate experts and policy makers have debated the existence of a potential link between global warming and increased hurricane activity since the record-setting 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. While claims that hurricanes are already stronger due to climate change are highly controversial, research demonstrates that increases in societal vulnerability to hurricanes—the number of persons and amount of property in coastal areas—goes a long way toward explaining the increases in hurricane losses over time. (more)

President Barack Obama’s federal budget for fiscal year (FY) 2010 proposed $3.552 trillion in discretionary, entitlement, and interest spending. The previous fiscal year, President George W. Bush had proposed the first-ever $3-trillion U.S. budget. President Bush was also the first to propose a $2-trillion federal budget—in 2002, a scant seven years ago. (more)

For the second year in a row, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and The Heartland Institute asked two fundamental questions about America’s state insurance regulations: (more)

The property and casualty insurance policies that most Americans buy depend on a system by which insurers file rates—the fees they charge for insurance policies—and forms—the language and forms insurers use to describe those policies to consumers. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have separate laws concerning these rates and forms. Increasingly, these rates and forms flow through a computer program called the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF), which is owned and operated (more)

Conflicting opinions on the ethics of organ donation have existed as long as organ transplantation has been medically feasible. Eligibility requirements, reason for transplant, and international organ tourism continuously resurface as difficult medical policy and ethics issues. (more)