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The Quality and Use of Regulatory Analysis in 2008
Author(s) -
Ellig Jerry,
McLaughlin Patrick A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01715.x
Subject(s) - quality (philosophy) , regulatory agency , order (exchange) , business , clarity , scale (ratio) , qualitative analysis , agency (philosophy) , quality management , operations management , accounting , public economics , marketing , economics , finance , qualitative research , public administration , political science , social science , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , sociology , service (business)
This article assesses the quality and apparent use of regulatory analysis for economically significant regulations proposed by federal agencies in 2008. A nine‐member research team used a six‐point (0–5) scale to evaluate regulatory analyses according to criteria drawn from Executive Order 12866 and Office of Management and Budget Circular A‐4. Principal findings include: (1) the average quality of regulatory analysis, though not high, is somewhat better than previous regulatory scorecards have shown; (2) quality varies widely; (3) biggest strengths are accessibility and clarity; (4) biggest weaknesses are analysis of the systemic problem and retrospective analysis; (5) budget or “transfer” regulations usually receive low‐quality analysis; (6) a minority of the regulations contain evidence that the agency used the analysis in significant decisions; (7) quality of analysis is positively correlated with the apparent use of the analysis in regulatory decisions; and (8) greater diffusion of best practices could significantly improve the overall quality of regulatory analysis.