Cost-Benefit Analysis

Cost-Benefit Analysis: News Correspondence Analysis Blog

Subtopics

Data Quality & Peer Review

Performance Measurement

Risk Assessment & Uncertainty

Amendments to E.O. 12866

News

Krill Protection Rule Clears White House 05/28/2008
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is proposing to prohibit fishing for krill, an important species in the marine ecosystem, in U.S. waters. The proposed rule comes after NOAA responded to objections from the White House. Read More

OMB Manipulates Science in Cost-Benefit Analysis for Ozone Rule 08/07/2007
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a cost-benefit analysis for a proposed rule aiming to tighten the federal standard for human exposure to ground-level ozone, also known as smog. Before its release, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) edited scientific language in the analysis in order to downplay the economic benefits of the proposed rule. Read More

Cost-Benefit Provision Latches onto Fuel Economy Standard 05/15/2007
A Senate panel has approved a bill reforming the federal standard for passenger vehicle fuel economy. The bill aims to increase vehicle fuel efficiency over the next 25 years, but a proposal to mandate cost-benefit analysis could undermine meaningful regulation. The bill raises questions as to the limits of cost-benefit analysis in the federal regulatory process. Read More

Media, Congress Begin to Examine Bush's Executive Order on Regulatory Process 02/06/2007
President George W. Bush's Executive Order amending the regulatory process in significant ways didn't immediately garner the attention one might have expected from the mainstream media and Congress. The order set in motion changes that could further delay or hinder public health, safety, environmental, and civil rights protections. It was issued by the White House, with a press release, Jan. 18, and only OMB Watch and Public Citizen rang the alarm bells, calling attention to changes that give OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) even broader powers over agency actions. Read More

President Bush Amends Federal Regulatory Process 01/23/2007
On Jan. 18, President George W. Bush issued amendments to Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review. The most notable of the changes will require federal agencies to: implement a stricter market failure criterion for assessing the need for regulation; require agencies to develop a summation of total costs and benefits each year for all proposed regulations; install a presidential appointee as agency Regulatory Policy Officer; and subject "guidance documents" to the same White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review process as regulations. Bush's amendments do not have the force of law but significantly change E.O. 12866, which figures prominently into the nation's regulatory process. The amendments will impact the way in which federal agencies go about creating rules and enforcing laws. Read More

Risk Bulletin Advances Graham Anti-Reg Agenda 01/24/2006
From cost-benefit guidelines to the new draft policy on risk assessments, White House regulatory czar John Graham has steadily proceeded with a long-range plan laying the groundwork for dramatic limits on public safeguards. Read More

White House Report Spins Bush Reg Failures 12/13/2005
In a debate with high stakes for a public that is largely unaware of it, the White House released a report on Dec. 7 spinning its anti-regulatory record as a success. Read More

Weak Roof Crush Rule Threatens Victims' Rights 11/29/2005
Based in part on flawed cost-benefit analysis, a proposed rule to reduce injuries sustained when vehicles roll over and their roofs are crushed inward fails to require the level of safety available in current technology and threatens to eliminate the rights of roof crush victims to sue manufacturers. Read More

Industry Costs Pitted Against Public Needs in Homeland Security Policy 11/15/2005
How much is a human life worth when it comes to a terrorist attack? Should the public be involved in setting the nation's safety priorities? The Bush administration is offering surprising answers to these questions and more as it develops the general framework for homeland security policy. Read More

Why Performance Standards May Be Superior to Cap-and-Trade 08/08/2005
Cap-and-trade regimes do a worse job at stimulating innovative pollution control methods than performance standards, according to a new scholarly article challenging the industry-backed position that emissions trading and market-based programs are inherently superior to so-called “command-and-control” regulation. This analysis reviews the article and outlines the reasons why performance standards may be superior to cap-and-trade. Read More

OMB Report on Regulation Misguided, Misleading 06/27/2005
An annual draft report from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) misleads the public on regulatory safeguards and makes OMB appear poised to impose misguided anti-regulatory policies, OMB Watch and other public interest groups told the White House last week. Read More

Costs of Work-Related Harms Underestimated but Soaring 06/27/2005
Even as the cost of serious workplace injury continues to soar, new research concludes that those costs are significantly underestimated. Read More

Is Cost-Benefit Analysis Needed? 03/21/2005
Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is often touted by the administration and conservative think tanks as a neutral tool in policymaking, but recent studies by legal scholars show that CBA is inherently political and may even advise against what we consider our most immutable public protections. Three recent articles examine the neutrality of CBA both in theory and in practice and analyze the arguments of CBA's greatest proponents. This analysis reviews those articles and critiques CBA as a regulatory tool. Read More

FCC Rigs Cost-Benefit Report to Side With Industry on Cable A La Carte 12/13/2004
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sided with the cable and big media industries against regulation mandating à la carte cable service, justifying its position with a cost-benefit analysis rigged against à la carte options. Read More

Leaked EPA Memo Reveals Likely Delays from Economics Analysis 06/28/2004
OMB requirements that agencies conduct economics-based analyses of the costs and benefits of regulatory decisions have delayed several major environmental protections and prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to install working groups of economists for every major rulemaking, according to an internal EPA memorandum. Read More

Administration Calls Cost-Benefit Analysis 'Unreliable' 04/19/2004
The Bush administration altered a study of the economics of saving a threatened species by deleting 55 pages on the benefits of saving the species and leaving only discussion about the costs to industry. Read More

OMB Finalizes Changes to Regulatory Decision-Making 09/22/2003
OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) issued final guidance today that instructs federal agencies on specific analytical methods for regulatory decisions. Read More

Graham Advises Agencies on Valuing Lives of Seniors 06/16/2003
In a Washington Post op-ed on June 1, Robert Hahn and Scott Wallsten of the American Enterprise Institute pose a fantastic scenario: There are two simultaneous fires, one at a nursing home and one at a nursery. The problem is that the fire chief has only one pump, and must choose whether to save 11 seniors or 10 toddlers. Obviously, the chief should choose the toddlers, they write. Read More

EPA Blasted for 'Senior Death Discount' 05/19/2003
During a recent series of public meetings, senior citizens and public health advocates attacked EPA’s practice of assigning less value to the lives of those over 70 when monetizing the benefits of prospective regulation -- causing agency Administrator Christie Whitman to denounce the method herself. Read More

EPA: Friend to Seniors? 04/07/2003
Publicly, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has expressed great interest in protecting the elderly, recently launching an “Aging Initiative” to examine their particular vulnerability to environmental health hazards. Yet behind the scenes, the agency is employing analytical methods that systematically devalue the lives of seniors in setting environmental standards, making strong protections much less likely. Read More

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