What should the Chancellor do this week?
If I had only one wish, this is what it would be...
According to the Financial Times’ Tej Parikh, California has more regulations affecting business than any other US state. He also notes that California is losing jobs faster than any other state. New York has the second most regulations, and is losing jobs at the second highest rate. It seems likely that there is a connection. Finally, he notes that these states are running massive budget deficits, and that they have exceptional high costs of living. Too many regulations really do lead to bad outcomes.
It is, of course, much easier for people to move from one US state to another, than to move from the UK to another place. For that reason the UK government can and does add huge amounts of regulation to UK businesses and people, without them moving.
These regulations still harm growth. In some cases people will leave the country, but the more probable effects are that they do not start or expand a business, or that individuals take early retirement, or simply work fewer hours. All of these make our country poorer.
I have, therefore, a policy idea for the Chancellor for this budget. Indeed, it is not so much an idea as a plea. In fact, if I was employed by the Chancellor I would go down on one knee to beg her to do this (and yes, I once did go down on one knee to a minister when I was a civil servant…)