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)
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.
2015
Does Regulation Enhance or Inhibit Turnover of Firms by Industry?.
McLaughlin, Patrick A, Mitchell, Matthew, Stratmann, Thomas.
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.
2009
Individuals trying to “Do their Part” to Save the Global Commons?.
McLaughlin, Patrick A, Coffey, Bentley.
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.
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)
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.
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.
2018
FRASE State Spotlight: Kentucky.
McLaughlin, Patrick, Sherouse, Oliver, Nelson, Jonathan, 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
Ideas for Regulatory Review at the US Department of Transportation.
George Mason University, Mercatus Center. McLaughlin, Patrick, Konieczny, Catherine.
Testimony (25)
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).
Blog Posts (41)
2015
Op-eds.
patrickamclaughlin.com.
Dataset (6)
2019
RegData: Australia.
Mercatus Research Paper. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Sherouse, Oliver, Potts, Jason. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3420352.
2018
Regdata us 3.1 annual (dataset).
QuantGov, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Arlington, VA. McLaughlin, Patrick A, Sherouse, Oliver.
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.
Conference Presentation (2)
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.