A Retrospective Review of Regulatory Review Itself
An interesting new paper from the Mercatus Center, “The Legacy of the Council on Wage and Price Stability”,* takes an instructive look back at the origins of centralized review of federal regulations.
Disclosure as a Form of Market-based Regulation
A new working paper seeks to identify the underlying incentive problems that caused the global financial crisis and how they may be resolved.
Bank Disclosure and Incentives
Korok Ray proposes a microeconomic model of a bank that acts as a financial intermediary engaging in maturity transformation.
Administrative Procedures and Political Control of the Bureaucracy
Positive theorists have argued that administrative procedures enhance political control of the bureaucracy, in part by predisposing agencies toward policy choices preferred by legislators' favored constituents. Although this “deck-stacking” argument has been both influential and controversial, few scholars have subjected it to empirical examination. This article assesses the operation of a prominent administrative procedure—the notice and comment process—in the context of Medicare physician payment reform, a fundamental restructuring of the way in which the Medicare program pays for physician services.
How to Improve Retrospective Review and Reduce Regulatory Burdens
In response to a request for information, we filed a comment offering three recommendations to further DOE's retrospective review efforts.
Tight Budgets Constrain Some Regulatory Agencies, but Not All
Each year we examine the President’s proposed Budget of the United States to identify the outlays and staffing devoted to developing and enforcing federal regulations. This “regulators’ budget” report covers agencies whose regulations primarily affect private-sector activities, and expressly excludes budget and staffing associated with regulations that govern taxation, entitlement, procurement, subsidy, and credit functions.
Review Necessary to Ensure FDA’s Food Transport Rule Actually Drives Results
On February 5, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a proposed rule regarding the Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food, which it hopes will help to ensure that food will not become contaminated during the transportation process.
FDA's Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food
The proposed regulation would establish criteria for sanitary transportation practices, such as properly refrigerating food, adequately cleaning vehicles between loads, properly protecting food during transportation, and strengthening record-keeping standards.
A shift to a global benefit-cost perspective requires a much more rigorous and balanced evaluative structure.
