Data Spotlight: Increase In Regulations Has Cost U.S. Economy $4 Trillion
According to a new study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia, economic growth in the United States has, on average, been slowed by 0.8 percent per year since 1980 due to the cumulative effects of regulation. What does that mean? The study found that:
- If regulations had been held constant at their 1980 levels, the U.S. economy would have been about 25 percent—or $4 trillion—larger than it actually was in 2012;
- The $4 trillion economic loss translates to $13,000 per American, a figure that, as the study notes, represents “a significant amount of money for most American workers.”
MSCI members can read the full Mercatus study on the think tank’s website.