Dr. Patrick A. McLaughlin is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a visiting research fellow at Pacific Legal Foundation. His research focuses primarily on regulations and the regulatory process.
Patrick created and leads the RegData and QuantGov projects, deploying machine learning and other tools of data science to quantify governance indicators found in federal and state regulations and other policy documents. The resulting database, freely available at QuantGov.org, has facilitated pioneering empirical research by numerous third-party users on the causes and effects of regulation.
Patrick has authored over 30 peer-reviewed studies in diverse areas, including regulatory economics, administrative law, industrial organization, and international trade. He is the coauthor, with Oliver Sherouse, of The Impact of Federal Regulation on the Fifty States.
A proud graduate of Clemson University, Patrick has given expert testimonies before Congress and state legislatures on topics ranging from the economic implications of regulatory accumulation to the potential impacts of regulatory reform. His research and op-eds have been featured in a wide range of media outlets, including The Economist, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Politico, and The Hill. He maintains a blog about the economics of regulation at https://thirdorder.substack.com/.