regulatory burden

The burdens of occupational licensing in North Carolina are harmful to military veterans and military spouses, and the General Assembly needs to act. That’s according to a new report…

As the 2020 election season gathers momentum, North Carolina’s tax reforms and demands for higher spending on any number of government programs will be front and center. One example is a…

One thing about the administrative state in North Carolina is that it carries on regardless of the party in power. Here’s a graph of the annual page counts in the…

A new look at rule-making activity in North Carolina shows that regulation, as the old beach tee puts it, keeps on truckin’. In past years, the John Locke Foundation published…

Government red tape slows down the economy. That is a consistent finding in economic research literature. Federal regulation has been estimated to cost the U.S. economy over…

As North Carolinians celebrate Christmas and look back at 2015, John Locke Foundation Chairman John Hood has reminded us this week that Gov. Pat McCrory’s promised…

Model Resolution on Regulatory Overcriminalization

This report is an attempt to identify the scope and cost of regulations in the state of North Carolina. The state’s record is mixed in terms of regulatory burden. One prominent index ranks North Carolina fifth in the nation when it comes to business friendliness. In contrast, the John Locke Foundation’s “First in Freedom Index” ranks North Carolina 36th in “regulatory freedom.”

A transition away from licensure and into voluntary private certification would inject freedom and choice into the market for service professionals and into the labor market. It would pay dividends in terms of job creation particularly in low-income neighborhoods.

Most studies find that lower levels of taxes and spending, less-intrusive regulation, and lower energy prices correlate with stronger economic performance. The implications of this research track well with recent public policies adopted in North Carolina. Judging from the available empirical evidence, North Carolina’s new policy mix is likely to result in stronger economic growth in the coming years.