The OIRA Module: Published Research

From: RegBlog

Cary Coglianese

Over  the past few decades, governments around the world have established procedures to try to analyze the impacts of new regulatory proposals before they are adopted.  By contrast, they have paid remarkably little attention to analyzing regulations after adoption.  Admittedly, some countries have begun to undertake modest efforts to examine the impacts of regulation retrospectively.  Under the Obama Administration, for example, agencies across the United States government have undertaken a formal “look back” review to identify and remove outdated regulations. But by and large these kinds of look-back efforts, however valuable they may be for tidying up the law books, fall far short of the kind of rigorous evaluation research needed to determine which regulations are causing positive outcomes and which ones are not.

From: Office of Federal Register Blog

Posted by Michael White

The Department of Energy recently published a proposed rule in the Federal Register which serves as an excellent reminder that regulatory review is an ongoing process.

Under Executive Order 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,” agencies are required to develop a plan to periodically review existing regulations to determine which ones should be maintained, modified, strengthened, or repealed to increase the effectiveness and decrease the burdens on affected parties.

The Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs explained the purpose of regulatory lookback this way:

Compendium

Reagan i-16

Reagan 17-46

Reagan 47-76

Reagan 77-108

 Reagan Initiatives Feb 18, 1981

Reagan Mid 1981 Report

Editor’s Note: A pdf of a summary of the Merctaus fiundings is attached here while the complete Working Paper “Overriding Consumer Preferences with Energy Regulations” is attached here.

From: Mercatus Center

Ted Gayer, W. Kip Viscusi

In recent years, federal agencies have issued energy-efficiency standards for everything from cars to light bulbs. These regulations are commonly billed as important efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.