The GW Regulatory Studies Center scholars regularly conduct applied research to understand regulatory policy and practice from a public interest perspective. Our content often takes the form of public interest comments, formal testimony, working papers, policy insights, and short commentaries analyzing the most pressing issues in regulatory policy. View the rest of our material by the different types of publications listed on this page or our research areas.
Long-form publications intended for academic audiences that take a deep dive into a particular aspect of regulatory policy.
Scholarly analysis of the potential effects of particular rulemakings from federal agencies, and advice to Congress on how to improve the rulemaking process.
Short-form publications intended for all audiences which provide easy to access analysis of regulatory policy.
Formal publications, often completed with other leading organizations and individuals, providing a thorough understanding of regulations and the rulemaking process.
The weekly Regulation Digest contains everything you need to know about regulatory policy today, and our monthly Center Update gives you all of the latest from our team.
For accessible charts and supporting data that you can use in your own publications or presentations, visit the Reg Stats page.
NHTSA's Safety Standards for Child Restraint Systems-Side Impact Protection
This public interest comment on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s proposed rule setting side-impact requirements for child restraint systems is part of a new project to evaluate how well agencies are preparing for retrospective review and analysis of regulations.
Retrospective Review: Do Agencies’ Proposals Measure Up?
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.
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
How much affect on the substance of agency regulations do public comments have?
NLRB's Representation Case Procedures
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
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"
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
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.
