The phrase "restraining effect on" is correct and can be used in written English.
It means to have a limiting or controlling influence on something. Example: The new regulations had a restraining effect on company profits.
Nevertheless, members of Congress and executive branch officials said the law has had some restraining effect on the White House.
It also had a restraining effect on the 14 institutions that were allowed to keep their official status, Bishop Beer said.
In 1982 Congressional testimony, Mr. Gates said the strategic arms treaties might have had a restraining effect on Soviet military spending.
Administration critics of the treaty have argued that the unratified treaty had no restraining effect on Soviet military programs and that dropping it would not make much difference.
It had a powerful restraining effect on both sides in such cases as the Cuban missile crisis and the Soviet threat to West Berlin.
Most private schools require students to do community service, but it is too often perfunctory, without any restraining effect on children's second-generation craving for Betsey Johnson sundresses, candy-colored Nokias and iPods.
The restraining effect of Ti on the growth of the Fe2Al5Znx layer is attributed to the occupation of Ti atoms in vacancies within the Fe2Al5Znx phase.
This means that, due to the restraining effect of latewood on earlywood and vice versa, swelling of combined wood reduces and becomes less anisotropic.
The restraining effect of Everolimus on the pro-OC activity of BC cells was investigated at both RNA and functional levels.
The results demonstrated that the restraining effect of the reinforcement on concrete shrinkage decreased with the distance from the reinforcing bar.
Similarly, a restraining effect of tax cuts on government spending plays a central role in the theories of strategic debt accumulation of Torsten Persson and Lars Svensson (1989), Guido Tabellini and Alberto Alesina (1990), and others.
