Patrick A. McLaughlin

Hoover Institution · Pacific Legal Foundation · Frankfurt Competence Center for German and Global Regulation
2,074 citations (Google Scholar) h-index 21 i10 33 341 works tracked

Positions and Experience

2026–present Shepard Family Research Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
2025–2026 Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
2024–2025 Visiting Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
2025–present Visiting Research Fellow, Pacific Legal Foundation
2016–2025 Director of Policy Analytics, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Arlington, VA
2012–2025 Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Arlington, VA
2010–2012 Visiting Scholar, Regulatory Studies Center, George Washington University, Washington, DC
2009–2012 Senior Economist, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Washington, DC
2008–2009 Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Arlington, VA
2007 Graduate Research Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center, Bozeman, MT

Editorial

2025–present Associate Editor, Journal of Regulatory Economics

Education

2008 Ph.D., Economics, Clemson University
2004 M.A., Economics, Clemson University
2000 B.A., Language and International Trade, Clemson University

Advisory

2025–present Board of Advisors, Vulcan Technologies, Inc. – AI-native regulatory solutions
2017–2025 Board of Advisors, Esper, Inc. – Regulatory data and policymaking technology
2018–2022 Board of Advisors, HData, LLC – RegTech and Legal Tech solutions

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles (48)

2025 Re-evaluating the Labor Market Effects of Occupational Licensing: Longitudinal Evidence Across States. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Makridis, Christos and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04497-5.
2025 On the Design of a Regulatory System. Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis. McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Tyler Richards. DOI: 10.1017/bca.2024.33.
2023 Regulatory System Design: Some Solutions to the Delegation Problem. Mercatus Special Study. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Ellig, Jerry.
2023 Regulation, Entrepreneurship, and Dynamism. Empirical Economics. Chambers, Dustin, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Oliver Sherouse. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3732928.
2022 Three Misconceptions about Federal Regulation. Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis. McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Casey Mulligan. DOI: 10.1017/bca.2022.13.
2022 Measurement Options for Regulatory Budgeting. Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy Per Curiam. Jones, Laura and Patrick A. McLaughlin.
2022 Never letting a crisis go to waste and the ratcheting effect of regulation: Evidence from the covid-19 pandemic. NYU Journal of Law & Liberty. Makridis, Christos A., and Patrick A. McLaughlin.
2022 Industry Size and Regulation: Evidence from US States. Public Choice. Law, Marc T. and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3848149.
2022 Regulation, Entrepreneurship, and Firm Size. Journal of Regulatory Economics. Chambers, Dustin, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Tyler Richards. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3169332.
2022 Count the code: Quantifying federalization of criminal statutes. The Heritage Foundation Special Report. Canaparo, GianCarlo, McLaughlin, Patrick A, Palagashvili, Liya.
2021 Larger Polities Are More Regulated. Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice. Bailey, James, James Broughel, and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3699434.
2021 Is Dodd-Frank the Biggest Law Ever?. Journal of Financial Regulation. McLaughlin, Patrick A., Oliver Sherouse, Mark Febrizio, and M. Scott King. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3664165.
2021 The Political Economy of Australian Regulatory Reform. Australian Journal of Public Administration. Allen, Darcy W.E., Chris Berg, Aaron M. Lane, and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3682317.
2021 Drafting X2RL: A Semantic Regulatory Machine-Readable Format. MIT Computational Law Report. McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Walter Stover.
2020 The Cumulative Cost of Regulations. Review of Economic Dynamics. Coffey, Bentley, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Pietro Peretto. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2869145.
2020 A Regulatory Fresh Start. McLaughlin, Patrick, Mitchell, Matthew D, Thierer, Adam.
2019 Bootleggers, Baptists, and the Risks of Rent-Seeking. Constitutional Political Economy. McLaughlin, Patrick A., Adam C. Smith, and Russell S. Sobel. DOI: 10.1007/s10602-019-09278-2.
2019 The Effect of Regulation on Low-Income Households. Policy Brief Mercatus Center, George Mason University. Chambers, Dustin, Thomas, Diana, McLaughlin, P, Waldron, Kathryn.
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. Chambers, Dustin, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Laura Stanley. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3169361.
2019 RegData Canada: A Data-Driven Approach to Regulatory Reform. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2018 Barriers to Prosperity: The Harmful Impact of Entry Regulations on Income Inequality. Public Choice. Chambers, Dustin, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Laura Stanley. DOI: 10.1007/s11127-018-0498-4.
2017 Legislative Impact Accounting: Incorporating Prospective and Retrospective Review into a Regulatory Budget. Public Budgeting & Finance. Fichtner, Jason J., Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Adam N. Michel. DOI: 10.1111/pbaf.12187.
2016 The Regulatory Determinants of Railroad Safety. Review of Industrial Organization. Ellig, Jerry and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.1007/s11151-016-9525-0.
2016 The Effect on Lawyers Income of Gender Information Contained in First Names. Review of Law and Economics. Coffey, Bentley and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.1515/rle-2014-0032.
2015 The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act May Be the Biggest Law Ever. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, July. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver.
2015 Does Regulation Enhance or Inhibit Turnover of Firms by Industry?. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Mitchell, Matthew, Stratmann, Thomas.
2014 A new way to measure industry-level regulation. Al-Ubaydli, Omar, McLaughlin, Patrick.
2014 Why We Need to Measure Regulation. Regul. Rev. Depth. Al-Ubaydli, Omar, McLaughlin, Patrick.
2014 A Hidden Cost of War: The Impact of Mobilizing Reserve Troops on Emergency Response Times. Public Choice. Coyne, Christopher, Abigail Hall, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Ann Zerkle. DOI: 10.1007/s11127-014-0200-4.
2014 The unintended consequences of federal regulatory accumulation. Mercatus Center Policy Briefing, May. McLaughlin, Patrick, Greene, Robert.
2013 Inching—or Sliding—Towards Charter Universities: What Price "Freedom"?. Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy. DOI: 10.58188/1941-8043.1293.
2012 Continuity, Change, and Priorities: The Quality and Use of Regulatory Analysis Across US Administrations. Regulation & Governance. Ellig, Jerry, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and John F. Morrall III. DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-5991.2012.01149.x.
2012 Trickle-down Regulatory Impact Analysis. Ellig, Jerry, McLaughlin, Patrick.
2012 Regulating at Midnight. Ellig, Jerry, McLaughlin, Patrick, Morrall, John.
2012 Regulators and Redskins. Public Choice. Coffey, Bentley, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Robert D. Tollison. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1349360.
2012 A New Measure of the Quality of Regulatory Analysis. Ellig, Jerry, McLaughlin, Patrick.
2011 The Quality and Use of Regulatory Analysis in 2008. Risk Analysis. Ellig, Jerry and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01715.x.
2011 Something in the Water? Testing for Groundwater Quality Information in the Housing Market. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1395008.
2010 Ignoring Implementation Costs of the Clean Air Act: A Costly Mistake. Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1395753.
2010 The Consequences of Midnight Regulations and Other Surges in Regulatory Activity. Public Choice. DOI: 10.1007/s11127-010-9635-4.
2009 Do Masculine Names Help Female Lawyers Become Judges? Evidence from South Carolina. American Law and Economics Review. Coffey, Bentley and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahp008.
2009 Individuals trying to “Do their Part” to Save the Global Commons?. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Coffey, Bentley.
2008 Do Economic Integration Agreements Actually Work? Issues in Understanding the Causes and Consequences of the Growth in Regionalism. The World Economy. Baier, Scott, Jeffrey Bergstrand, Peter Egger, and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9701.2008.01092.x.
2008 OIRA at Midnight.. Regulation. McLaughlin, Patrick, Brito, Jerry.
n.d. The Tradeoffs of Membership in Multilateral Regulatory Regimes: Open Access to a Common Market versus Regionalized Regulation. CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WESTERN HEMISPHERIC TRADE. COFFEY, BENTLEY, HAUK JR, WILLIAM R, MCLAUGHLIN, PATRICK A.

Books (3)

2016 The FRASE Index: The Impact of Federal Regulation on the 50 States. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin and Oliver Sherouse. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2939260.
2012 Dodd-Frank: What It Does and Why It's Flawed. Hester Peirce, James Broughel, Robert Greene, Patrick A. McLaughlin, J. W. Verret, Lawrence J. White. DOI: 10.13021/mars/2927.
2008 Globalization in the 21st Century: How Interconnected is the World?. Mercatus Center. DOI: 10.35217/0048-026-103-014.

Book Chapters (2)

2012 Quantifying and Projecting Dodd-Frank's Restrictions. Dodd-Frank: What It Does and Why It's Flawed. Patrick A. McLaughlin and Robert W. Greene.
2008 Regional and Inter-regional Trade Agreements: Examining Their Role for the Middle East. Globalization in the 21st Century: How Interconnected is the World?. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Scott Baier, and Jeffrey Bergstrand.

Working Papers (71)

2026 Leveraging AI to Identify Small Business Regulations at the Federal, State, and Local Levels. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Dustin Chambers. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.6996880.
2026 Data Transport, AI, and Growth. SSRN Electronic Journal. Bentley Coffey, Patrick A. McLaughlin, Pietro F. Peretto. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.6996321.
2026 Unsnarling the Red Tape. Computing Research Association (CRA).
2026 Regulatory Stringency and Industry Performance: Evidence from RegData U.S. 6.0. Christos Makridis, Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.6304218.
2026 Transportation, Innovation, and Growth. Coffey, Bentley and McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Peretto, Pietro F. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.6444398.
2025 The Causal Effect of Regulations on Economic Growth: Evidence From the US States. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Wong, John TH. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.5191651.
2024 How State Occupational Licenses Affect Jobs and Salaries. SSRN Electronic Journal. Christos Makridis, Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4735997.
2022 Regulation and Poverty. Mercatus Center.
2022 RegAuthorities: The Regulations Authorities Database, A Dataset. SSRN Electronic Journal. Samuel Kofi Ampaabeng, Patrick A. McLaughlin, Dustin Chambers. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4224870.
2021 Regulation and Economic Growth: Evidence from British Columbia{\^a}€™ s Experiment in Regulatory Budgeting. SSRN Electronic Journal. Bentley Coffey, Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3868527.
2021 Policy Analytics Symposium. Mercatus Center.
2021 Raising the Cost of Doing Business in Lower Income Countries: Trade Agreements with Stringent Multilateral Environmental Regulations. SSRN Electronic Journal. Bentley Coffey, William Hauk, Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3806762.
2020 Small Business Recovery after Covid-19. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Tyler Richards. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3595311.
2020 A Fresh Start: How to Address Regulations Suspended During the Coronavirus Crisis. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Matthew D. Mitchell, Adam D. Thierer. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3593010.
2020 A Policymaker? s Guide to State RegData 2.0. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. Ampaabeng, Kofi, Broughel, James, McLaughlin, Patrick, Nelson, Jonathan.
2020 A State-Level Approach to Reducing the Regulatory Burden on Small Businesses. McLaughlin, Patrick, Richards, Tyler, others.
2020 COVID-19 Shows Why America Needs Regulatory Reform: A? Fresh Start? Is How to Get It. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. Mitchell, Matt, Thierer, Adam, McLaughlin, Patrick.
2020 How to Create a Fresh Start Initiative in Your State: A Step-by-Step Guide. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Mitchell, Matt, Thierer, Adam.
2020 The Dodd-Frank Act? Bigger May Not Be Better: Why Large Acts Can Cause Deterioration in the Quality of Regulations. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Febrizio, Mark, Sherouse, Oliver, King, Scott.
2020 Quantifying regulation in US states with state regdata 2.0. Broughel, James, McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2019 Performance Standards vs. Design Standards: Facilitating a Shift toward Best Practices. SSRN Electronic Journal. Laura Montgomery, Patrick A. McLaughlin, Tyler Richards, Mark Febrizio. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3420320.
2019 Regulatory Review Commission + Regulatory Budget = a Diet for Better, More Effective Regulations. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Tyler Richards. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3697461.
2019 RegData Australia: Taking an Inventory of Australian Regulations. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Potts, Jason.
2019 Best Practices in Crafting Regulations: How to Realize the Advantages of Performance over Design Standards. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. Montgomery, Laura, McLaughlin, Patrick.
2019 Mapping Regulatory Restrictions in US States. Febrizio, Mark, McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2019 A Snapshot of Regulatory Restrictions in the Great Lakes Region. McLaughlin, Patrick, Jones, Laura, others.
2018 Regulation? s Unintended Consequences Can Hurt Everyone? the Poor Most of All. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Currie, Robin.
2018 Principles for Constructing a State Economic Analysis Unit. Broughel, James, McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2018 FRASE State Spotlight: Kentucky. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, Nelson, Jonathan, others.
2018 The State of Occupational Licensure in North Carolina. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. Mitchell, Matt, McLaughlin, Patrick, Philpot, Anne, Winter, Tammy.
2018 Comparing Regulations across US States. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Febrizio, Mark, Nelson, Jonathan.
2018 Regulatory Data on Trump's First Year. McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2018 The State of Occupational Licensure in Nevada. McLaughlin, Patrick, Mitchell, Matt, Philpot, Anne, Winter, Tammy, others.
2018 FRASE State Template. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, Strosko, Stephen.
2018 RegPulse. George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
2018 RegData Federal Live Tracker. McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2018 Picking on the Little Guy: How Regulatory Rulemaking Harms Small Businesses and Hurts the Poor. Chambers, Dustin, McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2018 Hitting the Poorest Hardest: How Federal Regulation Is Associated with Higher Poverty Rates in the States. Chambers, Dustin, McLaughlin, Patrick, Stanley, Laura, others.
2017 The Impossibility of Comprehending, or Even Reading, All Federal Regulations. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver.
2017 Ideas for Regulatory Review at the US Department of Transportation. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Konieczny, Catherine.
2017 Comprehensive Regulatory Reform. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Jerry Ellig. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3256391.
2017 The Unbearable Weight of the IRS. George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
2017 The effects of occupational licensure on competition, consumers, and the workforce. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Mitchell, Matt, Philpot, Anne.
2017 Did Deregulation Cause the Financial Crisis? An Update Using RegData 3.0. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, others.
2017 Dodd-frank is one of the biggest regulatory events ever. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver.
2017 Regulatory Accumulation since 1970. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, others.
2017 Regulatory Accumulation: The Problem and Solutions. George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
2017 Regulatory Accumulation in the Financial Sector. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, others.
2016 Regulation and Income Inequality: The Regressive Effects of Entry Regulations. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Laura Stanley. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2869155.
2016 Are Regulations Created as Responses to New Technology? A Simple Test Using RegData. George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver.
2016 Public Interest Comment on Train Crew Staffing Rule. McLaughlin, Patrick, others.
2016 Employee and Restriction Count Outlier Regulatory Agencies. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, others.
2016 The High Correlation between Agency Employment and Agency Regulations. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, others.
2016 What If the US Regulatory Burden Were Its Own Country?. George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
2015 Legislative impact accounting: rethinking how to account for policies' economic costs in the federal budget process. Mercatus Working Paper. Fichtner, Jason, McLaughlin, Patrick A. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3191365.
2014 The Consequences of Regulatory Accumulation and a Proposed Solution. SSRN Electronic Journal. McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Wiliams, Richard A. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2403602.
2014 RegData | Mercatus Center. Mercatus Center.
2014 On Objective Risk | Mercatus Center. Mercatus Center.
2010 Does Haste Make Waste in Regulatory Analysis?. SSRN Electronic Journal. McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Ellig, Jerry. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1646743.
2010 Trade Flow Consequences of the European Union's Regionalization of Environmental Regulations. SSRN Electronic Journal. McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Coffey, Bentley. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1413834.
2009 Doing My Part to Save the Global Commons? Environmental Awareness and Voluntary Fuel Economization in Gasoline Markets. SSRN Electronic Journal. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Bentley Coffey. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1368933.
2009 Empirical Tests for Midnight Regulations and Their Effect on OIRA Review Time. SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1340733.
2009 From Lawyer to Judge: Advancement, Sex, and Name-Calling. SSRN Electronic Journal. Bentley Coffey, Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1348280.

Policy Briefs (47)

2026 The Virginia Model: How The Commonwealth Built A Best-In-Class Regulatory System. Hoover Institution (State and Local Governance Initiative). McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Bull, Reeve T.
2026 Continuing Kentucky Tax Reform Efforts. Bluegrass Institute.
2025 The DOGE House. Hoover Digest.
2024 The Economic Situation, March 2024. Mercatus Policy Brief.
2023 Pride in America: Patrick J. Buchanan. idahofreedom.org.
2023 The Economic Situation, March 2023. Mercatus Policy Brief.
2022 The Economic Situation, December 2022. Mercatus Policy Brief.
2022 What's Next for Regulations?. Mercatus on Policy.
2022 Measuring Regulatory Accumulation in the US States. Mercatus Expert Commentary.
2019 The Economic Situation, September 2019. Mercatus on Policy.
2019 ‘Handyman exemption’ increase overdue. www.grassrootinstitute.org.
2019 RegData Canada: An Overview. Mercatus on Policy.
n.d. Published Works by Fellows. Hoover Institution.

Reports (4)

2020 Three Myths about Federal Regulation. National Bureau of Economic Research. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Casey B. Mulligan. DOI: 10.3386/w27233.
2014 Regulatory Reform in Florida: An Opportunity for Greater Competitiveness and Economic Efficiency. Florida State University Business Review. McLaughlin, Patrick A., Jerry Ellig, and Dima Yazji Shamoun. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3191351.

Testimony (25)

2025 Regulatory Reform in Wisconsin: An Opportunity for Greater Economic Growth. Wisconsin Senate Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs and the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency.
2025 Barriers To Supply Chain Modernization And Factor Productivity Enhancements. United States Congressional Joint Economic Committee.
2025 The Relationship Between Regulation and Productivity. United States Joint Economic Committee.
2025 The Economics of Deregulation. United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust.
2025 Testimony to the Oklahoma Legislature on Administrative Rules and Regulatory Reform (2025 Interim Study). Oklahoma Legislature interim study (Sen. Micheal Bergstrom / Rep. Gerrid Kendrix).
2024 Testimony on Oklahoma's Administrative Rules Process (Interim Study). Oklahoma Legislature, Senate Administrative Rules Committee interim study (Sen. Micheal Bergstrom / Rep. Gerrid Kendrix).
2024 Overreach: An Examination of Federal Statutory and Regulatory Crimes. Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives.
2024 Quantifying Overcriminalization in Federal Law. United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance.
2023 Virginia's Approach to Reducing Regulatory Burden as a Model for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee.
2016 Regulatory Budgeting as a Solution to the Accumulation of Regulatory Errors. United States House Committee on the Budget.
2016 Regulations Contribute to Poverty. United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law.
2015 Regulatory Reform Can Amount to a Progressive Tax Refund, If Done Right. United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law.
2014 The Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2014. United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law.
2013 Justice Delayed: The Human Cost of Regulatory Paralysis. Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate.
2013 On the Human Costs of the US Regulatory System: Should Congress Pressure Agencies to Make Rules Faster?. United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights, and Agency Action.
2013 What Information Could Help in Analyzing Regulation? Is There a Problem to be Fixed?. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House State Government Committee.
2009 The H-2b Guestworker Program and Improving the Department of Labor's Enforcement of the Rights of Guestworkers. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives.
2009 The Economics of Mandating Benefits for H-2B Guest Workers. United States House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Subcommittee on Domestic Policy.

Op-Eds & Commentary (37)

2025 Occupational Licensing Stifles Economic Growth And Labor Market Equity. San Diego Union Tribune. Christos A. Makridis and Patrick A. McLaughlin.
2020 Keep Cutting Those Regulations. nationalreview.com.
2019 Ranking the States by Regulation. nationalreview.com.

Blog Posts (41)

2026 Computing Can Help Fix Red Tape, But It Shouldn't Write the Rules. Communications of the ACM. Patrick A. McLaughlin, Vinay Chaudhri.
2026 The Freedom Frequency. Third Order (Substack).
2026 Gorsuch, Tariffs, and the Delegation Ledger. Third Order (Substack).
2026 OECD's New Research: Time for a Regulatory Reset. Third Order (Substack).
2026 Housing Reform Is a Management Problem. Third Order (Substack).
2025 The Nondelegation Project. Third Order (Substack).
2025 The Four Pillars of Regulatory Reform. Third Order (Substack).
2025 The Household Effects of Regulatory Accumulation. Third Order (Substack).
2025 Regulation, Regulatory Reform, and the Economy. Third Order (Substack).
2024 Second Best Regulatory Reform Options. Third Order (Substack).
2024 Chevron Deference Is Dead. Third Order (Substack).
2024 A Tale of Two Regulatory States | Third Order. Third Order (Substack).
2023 Win-win Regulatory Reform | Third Order’s “British Columbia's Red Tape Reduction Miracle”. Third Order’s “British Columbia's Red Tape Reduction Miracle”.
2023 British Columbia's Red Tape Reduction Miracle. Third Order (Substack).
2023 Solving Third Order Problems. Third Order (Substack).
2023 Decoding Judicial Deference | Third Order. Third Order (Substack).
2023 Putting The Horse Before The Cart. Third Order (Substack).
2015 Video/Other. patrickamclaughlin.com.
2015 Op-eds. patrickamclaughlin.com.
2015 Testimonies. patrickamclaughlin.com.
2010 Research. patrickamclaughlin.com.

Other Works (28)

2025 Rules as Code for a More Transparent and Efficient Global Economy. Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research). Jessica Rapson, Patrick A. McLaughlin, Meng Weng Wong, Jason Morris, Richard Pope, Matti Schneider, Tejas Sinha, Vitor Tomaz. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21969272.
2021 Jerry Ellig on Dynamic Competition and Rational Regulation: Selected Articles and Commentary. Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Ellig, Jerry, Dudley, Susan, McLaughlin, Patrick A.
2020 Online Appendix to "The Cumulative Cost of Regulations". Online Appendices. Bentley Coffey, Patrick A. McLaughlin, Pietro F. Peretto.
2016 TESTIMONY - Mercatus Center. Mercatus Center.
2008 Three essays on environmental economics and international trade. Bollettino della Societa Italiana di Cardiologia.
n.d. Event Videos | Mercatus Center. Mercatus Center.

Dataset (6)

2022 Census of regulatory restrictions. Mercatus Center Research Paper. Ampaabeng, Samuel Kofi, McLaughlin, Patrick A, Powers, Thurston.
2019 RegData: Australia. Mercatus Research Paper. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Sherouse, Oliver, Potts, Jason. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3420352.
2018 RegData 2.2: A Panel Dataset on US Federal Regulations. Public Choice. McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Oliver Sherouse. DOI: 10.1007/s11127-018-0600-y.
2018 Regdata us 3.1 annual (dataset). QuantGov, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Arlington, VA. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Sherouse, Oliver.
2015 RegData: A numerical database on industry‐specific regulations for all United States industries and federal regulations, 1997–2012. Regulation & Governance. Al-Ubaydli, Omar and Patrick A. McLaughlin. DOI: 10.1111/rego.12107.
n.d. State RegData; various versions. Dataset. McLaughlin, Patrick A; various co-authors.

Software (3)

2019 QuantGov: An Overview. George Mason University, Mercatus Center Working Papers. McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, others.
2017 RegData US 4.1 User’s Guide. SSRN Electronic Journal. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Sherouse, Oliver, Francis, Daniel, Gasvoda, Michael, Nelson, Jonathan, Strosko, Stephen, Richards, Tyler. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3044802.
2017 QuantGov—A policy analytics platform. QuantGov Work. Pap. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Sherouse, Oliver.

Invited Talks, Panels & Presentations (12)

2026 Conference on Budget Analysis and Public Policy (SIEPR/CBO)
2026 Regulations as Infrastructure – THRED Talks Presentation
2026 Regulating Transportation Networks (Hoover Institution virtual panel — organizer and panelist)
2026 Regulatory Crosswinds: Can the US and EU Stay Aligned? — presentation, GW Regulatory Studies Center
2026 THRED Talks at SAMCEDA's 73rd Annual Meeting
2026 Small Business Administration Webinar on Policy/Regulatory Interventions Targeting the Wrong Margin
2026 Computational Law as a Blueprint for AI Reasoning (CodeX FutureLaw 2026, Stanford Law School — panelist)
2026 Ridiculous Regs and How to Stop Them – Solutions Summit Panel
2025 ALEC Regulatory Reform Academy (Billings, Montana)
2025 SIEPR Workshop on Budget Analysis and Public Policy – Patrick McLaughlin Presentation
2025 Invited Talk at Heritage on Economics of Regulation/Deregulation
2010 Environmental Liability and Stewardship in Railroad Stock Prices

Testimony (16)

2026 Regulatory Reform in Louisiana: An Opportunity for Greater Economic Growth. Patrick McLaughlin testified before the Louisiana House Special Committee on Regulatory Reform, presenting research on the economic costs of Louisiana's regulatory accumulation and recommending reform models based on examples from Virginia, Idaho, and British Columbia. The testimony drew on peer-reviewed work quantifying how regulatory growth slows GDP and harms households, and previewed findings from an upcoming Pelican Institute report modeling the economic gains from reducing Louisiana's regulatory stock by 10–40 percent.
2025 Regulatory Reform in Wisconsin: An Opportunity for Greater Economic Growth. Testimony before the the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs and the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency.
2025 The Relationship Between Regulation and Productivity. Testimony before the the United States Joint Economic Committee.
2025 The Economics of Deregulation. Testimony before the the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust.
2025 Oklahoma Legislature Interim Study Testimony. Testified on administrative rules and regulatory reform (user-attested; exact date pending).
2024 Quantifying Overcriminalization in Federal Law. Testimony before the the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance.
2023 Regulatory Reform and Cutting the Red Tape in Pennsylvania.
2023 Virginia's Approach to Reducing Regulatory Burden as a Model for Pennsylvania. Testimony before the the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee.
2018 The Regressive Effects of Federal Regulation and a Roadmap for Reform.
2016 Regulatory Budgeting as a Solution to the Accumulation of Regulatory Errors. Testimony before the the United States House Committee on the Budget.
2016 Regulations Contribute to Poverty. Testimony before the the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law.
2015 Regulatory Reform Can Amount to a Progressive Tax Refund, If Done Right. Testimony before the the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law.
2014 The Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2014. Testimony before the the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law.
2013 On the Human Costs of the US Regulatory System: Should Congress Pressure Agencies to Make Rules Faster?. Testimony before the the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights, and Agency Action.
2013 What Information Could Help in Analyzing Regulation? Is There a Problem to be Fixed?. Testimony before the the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House State Government Committee.
2009 The Economics of Mandating Benefits for H-2B Guest Workers. Testimony before the the United States House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Subcommittee on Domestic Policy.
Generated by TrackImpact on 2026-08-31 — this CV updates itself as new works, appearances, and recognitions are discovered or forwarded.