According to the GOP, American businesses are being strangled by high taxes and regulations. If only we could create a more business-friendly environment, investment and growth would take off, and the benefits would trickle down to hard-pressed working people. All boats would be lifted by the rising tide.
The story is not conceptually absurd. It is not difficult to come up with examples of political entities with lots of taxes and regulations that do stagnate in this manner. It is also relatively easy to imagine yourself in the position of a would-be entrepreneur who just doesn’t think that the benefits of an investment are worth the hassle and the risk in a highly-regulated state. In other words, it could be true.
There are two problems with the story, however. First of all, the GOP believes it regardless of the circumstances; even if the facts don’t bear it out at any particular time and place, they push the narrative anyway. Second, there are plenty of examples of fast-growing political entities with lots of regulations. Is China a laissez-faire paradise? Are the blue states in America growing much more slowly than the red states? Is there a Mississippi Miracle? Obviously not.
The bottom line is that you have to view these issues on a case-by-case basis, and there are plenty of factors that affect growth outside of taxes and regulations. My personal judgment is that the story is largely true as applied to the French economy, but not in the US in 2017.