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| Dimensions: 5.5'' x 8.5'' |
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| 128 pages |
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AEI Press: AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies
(Washington)
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| Publication Date: February 2005 |
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| Paperback |
| ISBN: 0844771864 |
| Price: $ 20.00 |
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The full text of this monograph, plus reader comments, is available on the publisher's website.
Several scholars are highly skeptical of the use of cost-benefit analysis and other economic tools in regulatory decision making. Recently, these critics have focused on debunking economic summaries of regulatory activity, sometimes referred to as regulatory scorecards. The critics generally support less quantitative economic analysis of regulations.
This monograph addresses the analytical concerns raised by the critics. It makes four points: First, summary measures of the impact of regulations have made important contributions to our understanding of the regulatory process, a point often overlooked by the critics; second, many of the critics’ concerns could be addressed by making refinements to scorecards rather than wholly rejecting them as an analytical tool; third, some of the suggestions made by the critics are legitimate but many are not; and finally, the solution to legitimate concerns raised by the critics is not to eliminate quantitative economic analysis but to gain a deeper understanding of its strengths and weaknesses and to use it wisely.
Robert W. Hahn is cofounder and executive director of the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies and a resident scholar at AEI.
Table of Contents
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List of Illustrations
Foreword, Robert W. Hahn and Robert E. Litan
Acknowledgments
I. Introduction
II. A Review of the Main Critiques
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Discounting of Benefits Is Wrong and Antiregulatory
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Selection Bias Is Generally Antiregulatory
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Use of Ex-ante Estimates May Be Antiregulatory
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Quantitative Economic Analysis Is Antiregulatory because It Squeezes out Qualitative Benefits
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The Results of These Studies Are Not Robust
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The Benefits and Costs to Subgroups Are Frequently Overlooked in Practice
III. Criticisms of the Government Numbers’ Studies
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Benefits and Costs
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Benefits
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Costs
IV. In Support of Regulatory Scorecards and the Economic Analysis of Regulation
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Scorecards and Economic Analysis Provide Useful Information on the Effectiveness of Regulatory Policies
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Scorecards and Economic Analysis Set the Stage for Smarter Regulation
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Scorecards Help with the Development of New Techniques to Assess the Quality of Regulatory Analysis and Oversight
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Scorecards Help Make the Regulatory Process More Transparent and Hold Regulators More Accountable
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Scorecards Help with the Development of New Research Insights
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Scorecards Are Not Antiregulatory
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What Is the Alternative?
V. Where the Critics and I May Converge
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Need to Weigh the Benefits against the Costs of Regulation
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Need to Balance Quantitative and Qualitative Information in Decision Making
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Need to Provide a Better Treatment of Uncertainty
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Need to Consider Distributional Issues
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Need to Do More Retrospective Analyses
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Need for Greater Regulatory Transparency
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Need for New Institutional Approaches That Improve Regulation
VI. Conclusion
Notes
About the Author
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