The Real Cost of Regulation

Peter Roff cites Wayne Crews' work on the cost of regulation in U.S. News.

These costs are not insignificant. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute documents in the latest edition of its annual report "Ten Thousand Commandments," the so-called hidden tax imposed by the regulatory state has reached $1.88 trillion.

"Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations affect the economy by hundreds of billions of dollars annually," wrote the report's author, Competitive Enterprise Institute Vice President Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. "Regulatory compliance costs borne by businesses will find their way into the prices that consumers pay, affect the wages workers earn, and lead to lower levels of growth and prosperity."