HomePublications

Growth in Regulation Slows

An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008

Jerry Brito, Melinda Warren

June 19, 2007

Download PDF here

Highlights

• A new report of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Murray Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis reveals a slight decrease in regulatory spending, after adjusting for inflation.

• The 29th annual Regulators' Budget report, Growth in Regulation Slows: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008, examines the Budget of the U.S. Government to track the expenditures and staffing of federal regulatory agencies between 1960 and 2008.

Our Findings

• The FY 2008 Budget of the United States Government calls for expenditures on regulatory activities of $46.6 billion.

• The requested budget for writing, administering, and enforcing federal regulations in FY 2008 is larger than the estimated budget of $44.9 billion in fiscal year 2007, and reflects both a nominal increase and an increase in real, inflation-adjusted terms.

• The requested level of staffing on regulatory activities in fiscal year 2008 is 251,595 full-time equivalent people, or 7,385 (3 percent) more employees than in fiscal year 2007.

• The Department of Homeland Security continues its steady expansion. DHS accounts for the largest dollar and staff increases in the 2008 Regulators' Budget.

Conclusions

• The full impact of regulations on American businesses, workers, and consumers is difficult to measure directly.

• The expenditures of federal regulatory agencies, as tracked in this report, and the trends in that regulatory spending over time, provide an indirect measure of the size and growth in regulations with which American businesses, workers, and consumers must comply.

• This information serves as a barometer of regulatory activity, providing policy makers and others with useful insights into the composition and evolution of regulation.