Select what you would like to graph. You can choose "All regulations", "Title" or "Industry". Change the dropdown to see further description of these options in this box.
If you select “All regulations,” you will see a graph of the total number of restrictions published in all 50 titles of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in each year from 1997 to 2010.
Why graph by Title?
Title refers to titles in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Examining the data by title shows how the number of restrictions in each title has changed over time. This can be used to measure the volume of regulatory restrictions in a specific title or across multiple titles. The CFR is divided into 50 different titles that roughly correspond to broad subject matters, such as transportation (Title 49) or protection of environment (Title 40). See the FAQ about graphing by Title.
Why graph by Industry?
Industry refers to our metric of how heavily regulated each industry in the economy is. This can be used to examine how an industry's regulatory burden has changed over time, how it compares to other industries or how it compares to the average industry. You can select 2-digit or 3-digit industries, and the corresponding graphs will show how targeted the selected industries are by the restrictions in the CFR. See the FAQ about graphing by Industry.
RegData uses text analysis to measure how frequently the regulations in each CFR title target each specific industry in the economy. By combining this information with the number of restrictions in that CFR title, we have developed a metric of how heavily regulated each industry is in each year from 1997 to 2010.
2-digit data uses very broad classifications (e.g., manufacturing) to describe the sectors of the economy. 3-digit data is somewhat more precise subdivisions of the 2-digit classifications (e.g., chemical manufacturing).
You can examine how the number of restrictions in each title of the CFR has changed over time. Titles roughly correspond to broad sectors of the economy, such as energy or transportation. So looking at how restrictions in a title change over time gives you an idea of how the government regulations interact with the broad sector that the title covers. Additionally, you can get a rough idea of the regulatory activities of particular agencies by looking at the titles that they publish in. Although it is common for multiple agency to publish in the same title, usually those agencies will have similar missions.
For example, both the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission publish regulations in Title 16 – Commercial Practices. So if you wanted to get an idea of how regulations from those agencies have changed over time, you could examine a graph of Title 16. Similarly, if you wanted to see the restrictions produced by the Environmental Protection Agency over time, take a look at Title 40 – Protection of Environment.
