Evaluating Retrospective Review of Regulations in 2014
President Obama has encouraged agencies to review existing regulations and to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them.
Commentaries & Insights
Our Commentaries and Insights are short-form publications intended to distill long-form research and synthesize current policymaking activity into easily understood concepts.
OMB Reports Higher Costs and Lower Benefits in 2015 Draft Report
The Office Management and Budget (OMB) released its annual Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations (“the Report”), which provides a window into regulatory activity conducted by federal agencies in Fiscal Year 2014. The Report indicates that the new regulations issued last fiscal year have both higher costs and lower benefits than those issued in FY 2013, and that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) remains by far the largest contributor to both regulatory costs and benefits in this Report.
Executive Order No. 12866, signed by President Clinton, directs agencies to analyze the benefits and costs of regulations, and to try to maximize the excess of the former over the latter. It is a sound principle, but it needs to be applied with an appropriate measure of humility.
EPA’s Ozone Rule and the Scientization of Policy
EPA standards on Clean Air Act reflect hidden policy choices
Agencies could work more consistently to identify which regulations are likely to have a significant effect on international trade and investment.
Considering the Cumulative Effects of Regulation
Ex-ante regulation-by-regulation analysis may not account for the cumulative effect of regulations on society or specific sectors of the economy.