Our Commentaries and Insights are short-form publications intended to distill long-form research and synthesize current policymaking activity into easily understood concepts.
A Midyear Review of Regulatory Sentiment and Uncertainty
This commentary provides a midyear review highlighting patterns in the news-based measures of regulatory sentiment and uncertainty during the past months of 2021. Regulatory sentiment reached a historically high point in May, and regulatory uncertainty rose in July.
Distributional Language in Regulatory Executive Orders
To achieve the goals outlined in Biden's Modernizing Regulatory Review Memorandum, federal agencies will likely build on the distributional language of the executive orders highlighted in this commentary.
Two Ideas to Improve Equity in Government Decisions
Updating what burdens paperwork requirements can impose and encouraging agencies to better engage the public can improve equity in government decisions.
Unsolicited Advice for FTC Chair Khan
New FTC Chair Lina Khan has not sought my advice, but here it is. In his July 9 Executive Order, President Biden described an antitrust agenda that he wants the FTC and the other agencies with antitrust responsibilities to implement. His agenda consists of 72 major changes in competition law. Any agency that attempts to implement an agenda that includes that many major changes in law at the same time is doomed to failure. No agency has the resources required to implement an agenda that ambitious. Chair Khan and her colleagues need to choose no more than half a dozen parts of the president’s agenda to pursue immediately.
President Biden's Competition Executive Order Breaks New Ground
President Biden's most recent E.O. on competition stands out in terms of its length, prescriptiveness, and application to independent regulatory agencies.
The Frequency of Regulatory Suspensions in the 21st Century
Regulatory suspensions are tools for presidents to delay the effective or compliance dates of the prior administration’s rules. Analyzing regulatory data from the Federal Register, we demonstrate how the use of regulatory suspensions has varied from the presidencies of George W. Bush to Joe Biden.
President Biden’s Antitrust Agenda
On July 9, President Biden issued an executive order in which he described a comprehensive 72-part agenda to improve competition in the United States.
President Biden’s New Order: A Central Plan To Impose Competition
President Biden’s sweeping executive order aimed at promoting competition includes some promising actions but also many that will likely inhibit competition.
Agencies are Rescinding Guidance Regulations at a Rapid Pace
To implement President Biden’s Executive Order 13992, executive branch agencies have begun to rescind the thirty-two regulations promulgated in response to President Trump’s Executive Order 13891 on agency guidance documents. The fast withdrawal rate suggests that soon all guidance regulations will be reversed.
Congress recently passed three bills targeting Trump administration regulations for elimination. President Biden is expected to sign them, marking another historic “first” for use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA). To date, Democrats have yet to successfully use the oversight tool to strike regulations from the books.
