Economists Need a Field Trip to the Real World

At least one economist gets off campus frequently enough to see what the real economy looks like and, naturally, he’s a free market type. Perhaps he should take his colleagues on a field trip.

“American businesses spend almost $2 trillion per year (or roughly another 10 percent of GDP [Gross Domestic Product]) complying with regulations, including the 79,311 pages of the 2013 Federal Register,” Nikolai G. Wenzel, a visiting assistant professor of economics at Florida Gulf Coast University, said at a Fund for American Studies conference last November. “Think for a moment that the Declaration of Independence adds up to about 1,300 words.”

“By contrast, current U. S. regulations on the sale of cabbage add up to a staggering 7,800 words—and this is nothing compared to European Union regulations on the sale of cabbage, which add up to almost 27,000 words. Then again, the European Union was not founded on a principle of limited government.”  Professor Wenzel is also a research fellow at the University of Paris law school.

“Moving from the macroeconomic to the personal, an estimated 30 percent of the American workforce is subject to occupational licensing (up from 5 percent in the 1950s),” Professor Wenzel informed the audience at the TFAS seminar. “In Louisiana, it is illegal to sell flowers if one is not a licensed florist, which involves taking a written test and making four arrangements in four hours for a panel of already-licensed florists.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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