The US Federal government has been considering major reforms like the REINS Act, which would require Congressional approval of major regulations proposed by executive branch agencies, or bringing back the “two in one out” rule from the first Trump administration. What would these do?

Right now it’s hard to say much for sure. But similar reforms have already been implemented in the states; as usual, the states provide a laboratory for investigating how policies work and whether they deserve broader adoption. It’s especially valuable to inform the debate over reforms like the REINS act that are still being considered at the federal level. Even for federal reforms that have already happened, it can be easier to evaluate the state version, since states make better control groups for each other than other countries do for the US.

But so far we’ve mostly been ignoring our laboratory results from recent state regulatory reforms. For instance, Broughel, Baugus, and Bose (2022) released a dataset that could be used to evaluate state regulatory reforms, but it has only been cited 3 times. This is why I’m adding this to my ideas page as a good subject for future academic research.  Do state REINS or Red Tape Reduction Acts actually reduce either the stock or flow of regulation? If so, which types of regulations are affected, and does this have any effect on downstream measures like economic growth or new business formation?

Any research along these lines could help inform policy debates in the states, as well as for a new Presidential administration coming in with hopes of boosting economic growth through deregulation.

HT: Adam Millsap