All Roads Lead To Deregulation

The gentleman told Bertie the EU Commission president urged a 25% cut in regulations

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At a recent investor conference, Bertie met one of India's most celebrated entrepreneurs. During the conversation, he asked Bertie a rhetorical question, "You know what an entrepreneur loves more than subsidies and interest rate cuts?" Bertie waited for him to answer.

"Deregulation," he said emphatically. "I don't want anything else. Simplify the regulations and keep them stable. That's all any businessman needs." Bertie nodded.

The distinguished gentleman then highlighted the fact that he was seeing deregulation as a common thread within the policy agendas all across the globe. Bertie got a feeling that he was in for a class. "Take Trump's 10-for-1," the gent started referring to the President's diktat to all American regulatory agencies that for every new rule or regulation they promulgate, at least ten existing rules and regulations need to be repealed. "It's the most important change that the new President is trying to bring in. Game changer it can be!" he said, rubbing his hands.

"Same thing in Europe." The businessman had made a swift leap across the pond. "Read the Draghi report?" he asked. Bertie hadn't, but he made a mental note of asking ChatGPT to make a summary. The report, he was told, highlighted that the EU had passed 13,000 pieces of regulation since 2019, almost four times more than the US. It concluded that one of the reasons why the EU lacks dynamism, especially in the technology sector, was this tendency of centralized over-regulation.