Let’s Not Forget George Stigler’s Lessons about Regulatory Capture
George Stigler’s theory of economic regulation opened our eyes to the rent-seeking that undermines the public interest.
All Publications
HHS Eases Requirements for Treating Opioid Patients with Buprenorphine
The Department of Health and Human Services recently released guidelines that make it easier to prescribe buprenorphine to patients with opioid use disorder.
Distributional Effects in Regulatory Impact Analysis
President Biden reinforced longstanding requirements for regulatory analysis and placed renewed emphasis on understanding distributional regulatory effects.
The effects of regulation on jobs have been a heated theme in contemporary political debate. Little attention has been paid to regulatory uncertainty, and yet its impact on employment has a basis in the economic theory.
The Consumer Protection and Recovery Act
An article co-authored by Howard Beales, professor emeritus of strategic management and public policy at the George Washington University School of Business and senior scholar at the GW Regulatory Studies Center, was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in a ruling issued earlier this month limiting the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to recover monetary relief for consumers defrauded by companies that use deceptive practices.
Unsupervised Use of Opioid Treatment Medications
Methadone, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, can only be dispensed to patients at federally regulated opioid treatment programs. This restriction grew out of concerns about diversion and overdose.
Biden is Using Multiple Mechanisms to Reverse Trump's Regulatory Agenda
Biden has been actively using several options to reverse Trump-era rules, including withdrawals, regulatory suspensions, strategic responses to litigation, etc.
Congress Targets Six Trump Administration Regulations for Elimination Under the CRA
The Democrat-led Congress has targeted six Trump-era regulations for elimination under the Congressional Review Act.
Developing Regulatory Alternatives Through Early Input
Agencies face a multitude of requirements instituted by Congress and the president to guide their rulemaking procedures. In some cases, these laws and orders, such as Executive Order 12866 and the Regulatory Flexibility Act, mandate that the agency consider a variety of regulatory approaches when developing a rule.
A Project Worth Watching at OIRA
Building up the ability for agencies to conduct effective benefit-cost analysis was difficult when President Clinton authored Executive Order 12866 in 1993, so too will be building out better distributional analysis under President Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” Memorandum. It was worth the effort then, and it will be worth the effort now.