How many regulations does it take to get a beer? The geography of beer regulations

Although the influence of regulations on economic outcomes has been well documented, few studies have focused on the geography of regulatory burdens. The regulations confronting any supply chain can vary dramatically across legislative jurisdictions, as U.S. policy is enforced by overlapping federal, state, and local governments. We use a unique data set to explore state-by-state regulatory variation in U.S. beer supply chains in 2020. We find that the state-level rules targeted at the beer supply chain vary between 1,177 and 25,399, with the average state implementing 10,212 formal regulatory restrictions.

Automated summary

This study examines the regulatory variations in the beer supply chains across different states in the U.S. It was found that the rules targeting the beer supply chain at the state level varied significantly, with an average of around 10,212 formal regulatory restrictions implemented in each state.