Low‐​Hanging Fruit Guarded by Dragons — Reforming Regressive Regulation to Boost U.S. Economic Growth

Despite today’s polarized political atmosphere, it is possible to construct an ambitious and highly promising agenda of pro‐​growth policy reform that would command support across the ideological spectrum. Such an agenda would focus on policies whose primary effect is to inflate the incomes and wealth of the rich, the powerful, and the well‐​established by shielding them from market competition.

Excessive monopoly privileges granted under copyright and patent law, restrictions on high‐​skilled immigration, protection of incumbent service providers under occupational licensing, and artificial scarcity created by land‐​use regulation are four such examples.

Rolling back these types of regulations is the low hanging fruit of pro‐​growth reform. Unfortunately that fruit is guarded by “dragons”—the powerful interest groups that benefit from the status quo and can be expected to defend it tenaciously.

Join us to discuss why this fight needs to be waged and won in order to reverse the deterioration in America’s long‐​term growth outlook.