EU AI Act (2024)
Required compliance systems that burdened startups
Recent Policies
EU Deforestation Regulation (2023-25)
Traceability requirements that disadvantaged smaller farmers
FTC merger challenges (2020+)
Aggressive enforcement reduced tech startup M&A exits
Mid-Century Examples
Sri Lanka's fertilizer ban (2021)
Abrupt prohibition caused agricultural output to plummet ~50%
California AB5 (2020)
Contractor reclassification led companies to reduce worker hours or exit the state
San Francisco gross receipts tax (2018)
Revenue-based structure harmed unprofitable startups; later reduced by order of magnitude
Historical Cases
Sarbanes-Oxley (2002)
Compliance costs made smaller IPOs infeasible
US Prohibition (1920-1933)
Black markets emerged with crime syndicates and unregulated products
CAFE fuel standards (1970)
Incentivized SUVs over fuel-efficient sedans, opposite of intended effect
Laws accumulate "cruft" like software codebases and need periodic refactoring.