Colin W. O’Reilly
Portrait of Colin O’Reilly

Colin W. O’Reilly

  • Associate Professor of EconomicsHeider College of Business, Creighton University
  • DirectorMenard Family Center for Economic Inquiry
  • Editor-in-ChiefJournal of Regulatory Economics

Colin O’Reilly is Associate Professor of Economics at Creighton University, Director of the Menard Family Center for Economic Inquiry, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Regulatory Economics. He received his PhD in Economics from Suffolk University in 2014.

His research focuses on the institutions that promote economic development, including state capacity and recovery from violent conflict. He has also published on the effects of regulation on entrepreneurship and the distribution of income. His articles have appeared in peer-reviewed journals including Public Choice, Economica, World Development and the Journal of Comparative Economics.

Recent publications

All research

  1. Sequencing Institutional Development: The Modernization Hypothesis Reconsidered

    With Ryan H. MurphyJournal of Comparative Economics 54(3): 846–8682026

  2. A Practical Measure of Red Tape

    With Dustin ChambersRegulation & Governance 20(4): 1672–17032026

  3. Freedom from Unit Roots? The Time Series Properties of Democracy and Economic Freedom

    With Ryan H. MurphyJournal of Comparative Economics 53(2)2025

  4. The Legal Protection of Women's Property Rights, Factors of Production, and Economic Growth

    With Kathleen SheehanEconomics Letters 255: 1125042025

Data

All datasets

Red Tape Index

US states · built from State RegData

Excess regulatory stringency by industry, weighted by each state’s industrial composition. From Chambers and O’Reilly, Regulation & Governance.