All Publications

Retrospective Review: Do Agencies’ Proposals Measure Up?

April 21, 2014

As part of our continuing focus on retrospective review of regulations, the GW Regulatory Studies Center is commencing a new initiative, the Retrospective Review Comment Project. Through this project, we will examine significant proposed regulations to assess whether they include plans for conducting retrospective review, and submit comments to provide suggestions on how best to incorporate plans for retrospective review when new regulations are issued.

A Flash Judgment

April 14, 2014

Flash Boys, the latest book from Michael Lewis (author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, etc.), is a nonfictional account of the development of high-frequency trading (HFT) in U.S. equity markets, and of Brad Katsuyama’s quest to reform the system by creating a new trading platform, IEX, designed to resist the most damaging HFT strategies.

Measuring the Impact of Public Comments

April 7, 2014

How much affect on the substance of agency regulations do public comments have?

NLRB's Representation Case Procedures

April 7, 2014

In this NPRM, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) proposes to amend existing rules governing the procedures by which representation cases are conducted.

Timeliness of OIRA Reviews: A Snapshot in Time

April 1, 2014

To gain insight into ongoing reviews, we can turn to RegInfo.gov to get a snapshot of how long the regulations currently at OIRA have been under review.

Australia's Regulatory "Bonfire"

March 24, 2014

According to the World Economic Forum, Australia's labor regulations and red tape are major problems for doing business in the country.

Rulemaking Ossification Is Real: A Response to Testing the Ossification Thesis

March 19, 2014

Jason & Susan Yackee engage in an empirical study and claim to find relatively weak evidence that ossification is neither a serious or widespread problem. After a review of the Yackee’s methodology, dataset, time period, and suggestion of appropriate normative criteria, I conclude that nothing in the Yackee’s study contradicts or undermines the ossification hypothesis. In fact, ossification is a real problem that has a wide variety of serious adverse effects.

Informing the Debate over Regulation’s Impact on Jobs

March 10, 2014

New Fuel Economy Standards Leave Poor Americans in the Dust

March 4, 2014

Public Interest Comment on The Interagency Technical Support Document: Technical Update of the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis under Executive Order No. 12866

February 26, 2014

In May 2013, the White House released a revised Technical Support Document (TSD) with a new estimate of the “social cost of carbon” (SCC), to be used by various agencies when evaluating the benefits of emissions