The Biden administration has provided no shortage of economic policies to take stock of in 2021, including one that’s easy to overlook. On July 9, the president issued an executive order directing officials to promote “an open and competitive economy”—a laudable goal. Unfortunately, the order perversely undermines this goal by proposing more intense federal regulation of large swaths of the American economy, rather than placing greater reliance on market forces backed by well-crafted antitrust laws.
As a Cato Institute analysis explains, the order “glosses over the fact” that many government regulations serve as barriers to entry, which are “crucial impediments to competition in the U.S. economy.” If the administration really wants to strengthen competition in the American economy, it should scrap the July order and issue a new one.
Specifically, the administration should focus on government programs that…
