Economic Foundations of the Current Regulatory Reform Efforts

Regulatory reform proposals before Congress would potentially increase the role of economics in regulatory policymaking. These reforms seek to override existing legislative mandates, which usually prohibit economic trade-offs and have often led to inefficient expenditures. Proposed legislation would preempt these requirements and improve benefit-cost tests, making economic assessment a focal point of regulatory policy debates. Other reforms, such as the promotion of unbiased risk assessment and offsetting risk consequences of regulations, would also promote more efficient policies. Some less desirable proposals would largely serve to increase the transactions costs of issuing new regulations.