Well, limiting the areas that can be researched might have some effect. We've all heard the horror stories about IT research being shut down because, e.g., vari

Well, limiting the areas that can be researched might have some effect. We've all heard the horror stories about IT research being shut down because, e.g., various security problems "need" to be kept hidden. And direct regulation affects research into medical marijuana, or stem cell treatments. If the government is limiting research, then they're lowering the demands for scientists (or lowering the pay of a fixed pool of scientists). And if I can broaden your question to engineers as well, there's some reason to think that our patent regime may be stifling innovation, which similarly decreases the demand for engineers.