Tech Buzzwords

An ideological talking point to restrict government intervention: the idea is that regulatory enforcement will stop cool inventions or business models from flourishing. You could call it the public policy version of "move fast, break things".

It is also used to seed doubt about the value of government intervention, and used to justify why more cautious Europe doesn't have an equivalent to Silicon Valley.

Some examples of "regulation stifles innovation" in practice:

• In the auto-tech industry, it means testing self-driving cars in Arizona instead of California.
• In criminal justice, "innovation" means more people are successfully arrested, charged, and/or convicted.
• "Pay people for their work" is a sample regulatory constraint on innovation.
• It's considered the basis for the flourishing gig economy.

A derivative of muscular Christianity. “In America we worship God, not government”.

A talking point against government regulation of the tech industry.

There are many counter-examples to this theory.

For example, the US has led in the development of experimental aircrafts and spaceflight despite government regulation by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The US leads the world in drug discovery, despite regulation by The Food and Drug Administration.

There is also a growing understanding among psychologists about how constraints foster creativity.