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An evaluation of the quality of impact assessment in the European Union with lessons for the US and the EU
Author(s) -
Cecot Caroline,
Hahn Robert,
Renda Andrea,
Schrefler Lorna
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
regulation and governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.417
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1748-5991
pISSN - 1748-5983
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-5991.2008.00044.x
Subject(s) - european union , benchmark (surveying) , impact assessment , quality (philosophy) , quality assessment , economic impact analysis , public economics , economics , political science , business , international trade , public administration , external quality assessment , operations management , philosophy , geodesy , epistemology , microeconomics , geography
Abstract Governments throughout the world are requiring greater use of economic analysis as a way of informing policy decisions. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the use of impact assessment in the European Union, using US assessments as a benchmark. We find that recent EU impact assessments include more economic information than they did in the past, although important items are still missing. We also provide evidence that the quality of EU impact assessment increases with the expected cost of a proposal. Furthermore, we find that the quality of EU assessments that report high total costs is similar to that of US assessments.