Patrick A. McLaughlin

About

Dr. Patrick A. McLaughlin is the director of policy analytics and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. His research focuses primarily on regulations and the regulatory process.

McLaughlin created and led 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.

McLaughlin has authored dozens of 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.

McLaughlin 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, Politico, and The Hill.

Prior to joining Mercatus, McLaughlin served as a senior economist at the Federal Railroad Administration in the US Department of Transportation and as a visiting scholar at the

Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University. He holds a PhD in economics from Clemson University.