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Regulation and poverty: an empirical examination of the relationship between the incidence of federal regulation and the occurrence of poverty across the US states

Author

Listed:
  • Dustin Chambers

    (Mercatus Center at George Mason University
    Salisbury University)

  • Patrick A. McLaughlin

    (Mercatus Center at George Mason University)

  • Laura Stanley

    (Mercatus Center at George Mason University)

Abstract

We estimate the impact of federal regulations on poverty rates in the 50 US states using the recently created Federal Regulation and State Enterprise (FRASE) index, which is an industry-weighted measure of the burden of federal regulations at the state level. Controlling for many other factors known to influence poverty rates, we find a robust, positive and statistically significant relationship between the FRASE index and poverty rates across states. Specifically, we find that a 10% increase in the effective federal regulatory burden on a state is associated with an approximate 2.5% increase in the poverty rate. This paper fills an important gap in both the poverty and the regulation literatures because it is the first one to estimate the relationship between the two variables. Moreover, our results have practical implications for federal policymakers and regulators because the greater poverty that results from additional regulations should be considered when weighing the costs and benefits of additional regulations.

Suggested Citation

  • Dustin Chambers & Patrick A. McLaughlin & Laura Stanley, 2019. "Regulation and poverty: an empirical examination of the relationship between the incidence of federal regulation and the occurrence of poverty across the US states," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 131-144, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:180:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-018-0603-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-018-0603-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bentley Coffey & Patrick McLaughlin & Pietro Peretto, 2020. "The Cumulative Cost of Regulations," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 1-21, October.
    2. John Dawson & John Seater, 2013. "Federal regulation and aggregate economic growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 137-177, June.
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    4. Rati Ram, 2007. "Roles of income and equality in poverty reduction: recent cross-country evidence," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(7), pages 919-926.
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    8. Meng, Xin & Gregory, Robert & Wang, Youjuan, 2005. "Poverty, inequality, and growth in urban China, 1986-2000," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 710-729, December.
    9. Dustin Chambers & Shatakshee Dhongde, 2011. "A Non‐Parametric Measure Of Poverty Elasticity," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 57(4), pages 683-703, December.
    10. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1992. "Growth and redistribution components of changes in poverty measures : A decomposition with applications to Brazil and India in the 1980s," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 275-295, April.
    11. Chambers, Dustin & Munemo, Jonathan, 2017. "The Impact of Regulations and Institutional Quality on Entrepreneurship," Working Papers 07629, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    12. Shatakshee Dhongde, 2004. "Decomposing Spatial Differences in Poverty in India," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-53, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Coffey, Bentley & McLaughlin, Patrick, 2016. "The Cumulative Cost of Regulations," Working Papers 06863, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    14. Mark W. Frank, 2009. "Inequality And Growth In The United States: Evidence From A New State‐Level Panel Of Income Inequality Measures," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(1), pages 55-68, January.
    15. Chambers, Dustin & Wu, Ying & Yao, Hong, 2008. "The impact of past growth on poverty in Chinese provinces," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 348-357, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Javier Quintana & Isabel Soler & Rok Spruk, 2024. "The heterogenous effects of a higher volume of regulation: evidence from more than 200k Spanish norms," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 137-153, June.
    2. Dustin Chambers & Colin O’Reilly, 2022. "The economic theory of regulation and inequality," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(1), pages 63-78, October.
    3. Chambers, Dustin & O'Reilly, Colin, 2022. "Regulation and income inequality in the United States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Javier Quintana & Isabel Soler & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Sector-level economic effects of regulatory complexity: evidence from Spain," Working Papers 2312, Banco de España.
    5. Dincer, Oguzhan & Gunalp, Burak, 2020. "The effects of federal regulations on corruption in U.S. States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Nicholas Reinarts & Vitor Melo, 2023. "ADA to Ph.D.? The Americans with disabilities act and post-secondary educational attainment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 197(3), pages 421-432, December.
    7. Broughel, James & Chambers, Dustin, 2021. "Federal Regulation and Mortality in the 50 States," Working Papers 10289, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    8. Choudhury, Sanchari, 2023. "The causal effect of regulation on income inequality across the U.S. states," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. de Lucio, Juan & Mora-Sanguinetti, Juan S., 2022. "Drafting “better regulation”: The economic cost of regulatory complexity," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 163-183.
    10. Chambers, Dustin, 2021. "Toward a Formalization of Policy Analytics," Working Papers 11019, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regulation; Poverty; States; FRASE; Regressive effects; RegData;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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