Economics professor Wayne Gray ‘s co-authored essay, “Do the Job Effects of Regulation Differ with the Competitive Environment?,” has recently been published in Does Regulation Kill Jobs? (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014).
Manufacturing companies frequently oppose government imposition of environmental regulations on the grounds that such regulations will jeopardize jobs and stifle productivity. In this chapter, the authors review U.S. manufacturing data from 1973-1994 to evaluate the impact of environmental regulation on employment and output. Their analysis shows that higher levels of regulation led to statistically significant, but quantitatively very small job losses. Industries with rapidly growing demand tended to be less affected, while industries where competition was low were more sensitive to regulation.
Professor Gray’s research focuses on the consequences of environmental regulation for productivity and risk management. He serves as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and executive director of the Boston Research Data Center of the United States Census Bureau.
