Mises Wire

The Cost of a Government Regulator

The Cost of a Government Regulator

A new study by the Phoenix Center for the Advanced Study for Legal and Economic Policy Studies found that federal regulators cost taxpayers more than $200,000 each, but cost the economy over $6 million in jobs and productivity.

“In particular,” the group says, “even a small 5 percent reduction in the regulatory budget (about $2.8 billion) would result in about $75 billion in expanded private-sector GDP each year, with an increase in employment by 1.2 million jobs annually.”

“On average,” the Phoenix Center says, “eliminating the job of a single regulator grows the American economy by $6.2 million and nearly 100 private sector jobs annually. Conversely, each million dollar increase in the regulatory budget costs the economy 420 private sector jobs.”

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