Insight: CA's competitive edge suffocated by heavy-handed regulations and high living costs

The California Policy Center's Sheridan Swanson breaks down a recent LA Area Chamber of Commerce research study, which finds that CA's long-competitive economic standing is, yes, being eroded: by overbearing regulations and unaffordable costs of living. If local gov't relaxed our restrictive laws, says Swanson, we'd encourage creativity in a historically innovative, tech-progressive state.

Last week, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce released a study on California’s economic standing. “We wanted to look at why California-based businesses continue to leave and whether the state was doing enough to stem the flow of business outbound migration,” the Chamber’s president Maria Salinas told CalMatters.

According to the report, despite California’s long history as a massive economy with the largest GDP of any state in the nation, “accelerating” migration of businesses and individuals from California means the state has lost its competitive edge....

What can be done to curb (or better still, reverse) the current trend?

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce report recommends several actions. The authors ask the state to compete for workers and companies by defining innovative strategies for attracting and retaining them. The authors note that addressing the state’s high cost of living is an essential part of this step.

Additionally, the authors ask the state to lower the barriers to entrepreneurship in California, with the purpose of allowing its “homegrown talent” to thrive. The report centers on a regional approach to economic health in the state, rather than a “one-state,” one-size-fits-all approach to business in California. Sacramento should be willing to scale back statewide, burdensome laws and regulations in favor of allowing regional flexibility and innovation within the state.

This article originally appeared in the California Policy Center. Read the whole thing here.

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