Improving Regulation: Start with the Analysis and Work from There

Abstract

This testimony reviews research from the Joint Center on regulatory impact analyses and provides five recommendations for improving the regulatory process. These recommendations include: making regulatory impact analyses publicly available on the Internet; providing a regulatory impact summary table for each regulatory impact analysis that includes information on costs, benefits, technical information, and whether the regulation is likely to pass a benefit-cost test; establishing an agency or office outside the executive branch to assess independently existing and proposed federal rules' requiring that the head of a regulatory agency balance the benefits and costs of a proposed regulation; and requiring that all regulatory agencies adhere to established principles of economic analysis when doing a regulatory impact analysis.