Several objective (though imperfect) measures show that federal regulations spiked under President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) and President Barack Obama (2009-2017). In the wake of both of these regulatory expansions, productivity growth crashed. Likewise, the authors of a 2013 paper in the Journal of Economic Growth conducted a study that found the effects of federal regulations on the U.S. economy have been "negative and substantial." As with the vast majority of studies in the social sciences, these are merely associations, and association does not prove causation. However, economists have identified numerous mechanisms by which regulations harm productivity and economic growth. Details are provided in the link below.