CEI: Advancing Liberty—From the Economy to Ecology
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government. We believe that individuals are best helped not by government intervention but by making their own choices in a free marketplace. Since its founding in 1984, CEI has grown into a $3,000,000 institution with a team of over 20 policy experts and other staff.
We are nationally recognized as a leading voice on a broad range of regulatory issues-from free market approaches to environmental policy, to antitrust and technology policy, to risk regulation. But CEI is not a traditional "think tank." We frequently produce groundbreaking research on regulatory issues, but our work does not stop there. It is not enough to simply identify and articulate solutions to public policy problems; it is also necessary to defend and promote those solutions at all phases of the public policy debate.
We reach out to the public and the media to ensure that our ideas are heard, work with policymakers to ensure that they are implemented, and, when necessary, take our arguments to court. This "full service approach" to public policy helps make us an effective and powerful force for economic freedom.
Fred L. Smith, Jr. is President and Founder of CEI. Mr. Smith combines intellectual and strategic analysis of complex policy issues ranging from the environment to corporate governance with an informative and entertaining presentation style. Well-known in academic and professional circles, Mr. Smith is a popular speaker at universities and conferences around the world.
Mr. Smith is also a frequent guest on national television and radio programs to discuss and debate regulatory initiatives and topical policy issues. Providing both analytical and political insights, he has appeared on CNN's “Crossfire,” PBS’s “News Hour with Jim Lehrer” and “Now with Bill Moyers,” ABC's “20/20” and “This Week,” NPR's “Talk of the Nation” and “The Diane Rehm Show,” and “The G. Gordon Liddy Show,” among many others.
A prolific writer, Mr. Smith’s works have been published in leading newspapers and magazines such as the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Economic Affairs, and the Washington Times. His academic articles have appeared in journals such as Harvard Journal of Law and Economics, CATO Journal, and Economic Affairs, and he is a contributing editor to Liberty magazine. Mr. Smith is co-editor of Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards and the Field Guide for Effective Communication. He has also contributed chapters to more than a dozen books, including Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths, True State of the Planet, Corporate Aftershock: The Public Policy Lessons from the Collapse of Enron and Other Major Corporations, Solutions for an Environment in Peril, Market Liberalism: A Paradigm for the 21st Century, and Assessing the Reagan Years.
Before founding CEI, Mr. Smith served as Director of Government Relations for the Council for a Competitive Economy, as a senior economist for the Association of American Railroads, and for five years as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, he sits on the Institute Turgot in Belgium. Mr. Smith holds a B.S. degree in Theoretical Mathematics and Political Science from Tulane University where he earned the Arts and Sciences Medal (Tulane’s highest academic award) and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He has also done graduate work in mathematics and applied mathematical economics at Harvard, SUNY at Buffalo, and the University of Pennsylvania. He is married to Frances (Bivona) Smith.
Here is what some of the nation's leading news media have to say about CEI:
"From its start in 1984, [CEI] has thumbed its nose at the traditional think tank model, instead adopting what it terms a 'full service' approach that begins with research , but doesn't end there, stretching instead to dogged issue advocacy." - The Washington Post
"The best environmental think tank in the country" - The Wall Street Journal,
"One of Washington's feistiest think tanks" - The Boston Globe
"CEI is...one of the most influential Washington think tanks" - Now with Bill Moyers
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