Does Haste Make Waste in Regulatory Analysis?

24 Pages Posted: 23 Jul 2010

See all articles by Patrick A. McLaughlin

Patrick A. McLaughlin

Stanford University - Hoover Institution; Pacific Legal Foundation

Jerry Ellig

George Washington University - Regulatory Studies Center (deceased)

Date Written: July 13, 2010

Abstract

Most federal agencies must conduct economic analysis when proposing major regulations. This paper uses a new data set scoring the quality of analysis accompanying proposed regulations in 2008 to assess whether some types of regulations receive more thorough analysis than others. Previous scholarship speculates that “midnight regulations” receive less thorough consideration, and the Office of Management and Budget asserts that agencies rarely estimate benefits and costs of “transfer” regulations that describe how agencies will spend or collect money. Our tests find that “midnight” regulations proposed after June 1, 2008, and “transfer” regulations both have significantly lower-quality analysis.

Keywords: regulation, economic analysis, regulatory quality, midnight regulations

JEL Classification: D61, D73, D78, K23, L51

Suggested Citation

McLaughlin, Patrick A. and Ellig, Jerry, Does Haste Make Waste in Regulatory Analysis? (July 13, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1646743 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1646743

Patrick A. McLaughlin (Contact Author)

Stanford University - Hoover Institution ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Pacific Legal Foundation ( email )

930 G Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
United States

Jerry Ellig

George Washington University - Regulatory Studies Center (deceased) ( email )

805 21st St. NW
Washington, DC 20052
United States
703-375-9410 (Phone)

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