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Professorerna Sanjay Varshney och Dennis Tootelian har försökt uppkatta vad Kaliforniens regleringar egentligen kostar - ur rapporten:

The study finds that the total cost of regulation to the State of California is $492.994 billion which is almost five times the State’s general fund budget, and almost a third of the State’s gross product. The cost of regulation results in an employment loss of 3.8 million jobs which is a tenth of the State’s population.

Vidare ur rapporten:

The total regulatory cost of $492.994 billion translates into a total cost per household of $38,446.76 per household, or $13,052.05 per resident. The total cost per household comes close to the median household income for California.

Siffrorna kan alldeles säkert ifrågasättas, men regleringar är precis som allt annat ingen gratislunch, och politikers ständiga beskatta-reglera-subventionera-spiral är självfallet samhällsskadlig.

Det finns dock länder som skådar åt annat håll - från People's Daily:

Shenzhen city, the first special economic zone in south China's Guangdong province, has been slashed one third of government departments in an attempt to de-emphasize the role of government and move toward a more market-based society, China Daily reported Wednesday.

Scholars say the new, leaner government model could serve as a pilot program for the rest of the country.

"We want to change the scenario that the government has a finger in every pie," Li Feng, executive vice mayor of Shenzhen, was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "The government now will not step into what is supposed to be market-oriented.