Regulation, Investment, and Growth Across Countries

Abstract

This paper uses cross-country regulation data to examine the relationship between government regulation, investment, and long-run growth in a large sample of countries. The empirical results suggest that (1) highly regulated economies tend to have high rates of public investment; (2) regulation has a negative impact on private investment; (3) regulation has a negative impact on growth rates; and (4) volatility in the regulatory regime is negatively related to growth. Conclusions (1) and (4) hold even when measures of economic freedom are included in the model. Interesting implications with respect to policy toward regulatory reform are suggested.