Published August 7, 2026
The Code of Federal Regulations has expanded from fewer than 10,000 pages in 1950 to more than 100,000 pages today, imposing costs that accumulate through higher prices, reduced innovation, and slower economic growth. Because the regulatory system is designed to keep expanding, lasting reform requires more than periodic deregulation. Congress should approve the costliest rules, agencies should conduct rigorous cost-benefit analyses, and a permanent office should keep regulatory reform on track across administrations.
Related Sources:
Visit Patrick A. McLaughlin's profile here.
__________
The opinions expressed in this video are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.
© 2026 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.
Patrick A. McLaughlin
Articles
Where data centers locate to fuel the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) is of burgeoning political importance with economic and environmental implications. We highlight local factors associated with siting and opposition.
November 3, 2026
Event
The Hoover Institution Economic Policy Working Group hosted “Money and Power: Historical Lessons for Stablecoins and U.S Dollar Dominance” with Michael D. Bordo, the Duncan Stewart Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
April 23, 2026
Articles
Synthetic control methods hold the promise of identifying a credible counterfactual by closely reproducing pretreatment outcome paths. Their reliability, however, depends in part on how effectively they constrain researchers’ less-visible degrees of freedom. We explore these methods’ sensitivity by constructing 1440 plausibly defensible specifications to estimate the employment effect of California’s $20 fast-food minimum wage. While over 96 percent of the estimated employment effects are negative, the range is vast, illustrating that synthetic control methods are sensitive to specification choice.
October 30, 2026