With tax cuts now a done deal, Republicans are turning to regulatory reform to give economic growth a further boost. There, they may find more bipartisan support. Past reforms of airlines, rail, and trucking regulation were, after all, set in motion by Democrats. Today there is significant Democratic support for reform of financial regulation, especially for smaller community banks. Overregulated small businesses can be found in every congressional district, red or blue.
Is Overregulation Really Holding Back the U.S. Economy?
If Republicans want growth, they’ll have to do more than cut red tape.
January 08, 2018
Summary.
Regulatory reform could be a big boost if it is done right, but indiscriminate deregulation could do more harm than good. Regulatory freedom, at least as it is measured by the Heritage and Cato indexes, is not an end in itself. Rather, it is an outcome of good government in the more general sense. To get the good government they want, then, regulatory reformers must do more than cut, cut, cut. They must get their priorities right by retaining regulations that support the basic functioning of a market economy, replacing regulations that have legitimate aims but unintended consequences, and repealing regulations that are motivated primarily by the manipulation of public policy for private gain.