The Impact of Higher Quality Government Regulation of Business and Greater Economic Freedom on the Growth and Level of Living Standards : Evidence from OECD Nations

This study investigates the impacts of higher quality public regulation of business, as well as greater economic freedom, on growth in the standard of living (as measured by increased per capita real GDP) in OECD nations over the 2003-2007 study period. Using a pooled time-series/cross section dataset, the estimation results provide support for the two central hypotheses being investigated: (1) the greater the increase in regulatory quality, the higher the growth rate of the standard of living; and (2) the greater the increase in economic freedom, the higher the increase in the standard of living. This study takes the perspective that factors acting to promote increased entrepreneurship, inclusive of publicly-traded corporations, elevate the increase in real living standards as well as the level of living standards. Modest robustness testing provides further support for these conclusions