Improving Regulation: Cases in Environment, Health, and Safety (RFF Press)

"An original and distinctive manuscript that contributes significantly both to scientific knowledge and policymaking in environmental, safety, and health regulation. The authors collectively demonstrate that various kinds of economic assessment can add measurably to the rationality and efficiency of regulation and contribute to improved policy design, implementation, and success in achieving regulatory goals. This balanced appraisal of regulatory issues should be suitable for a broad audience of academics, policymakers, and a general readership interested in regulatory reform issues."--Michael E. Kraft, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Is there potential for a U.S. regulatory system that is more efficient and effective? Or is the future likely to involve "paralysis by analysis"? Improving Regulation considers the challenges faced by the regulatory system as society and technology change, and our knowledge about the effects of our activities on human and planetary health becomes more sophisticated.

While considering the difficulty in linking regulatory design and performance, Improving Regulation makes the case for empowering regulatory analysis. Studying applications as diverse as fire protection, air and water pollution, and genetics, its contributors examine the strategies of different stakeholders in today's complex policymaking environment. With a focus on the behavior of institutions and people, they consider the impact that organizational politics, science, technology, and performance have on regulation. They explore the role of technology in creating and reducing uncertainty, the costs of control, the potential involvement of previously unregulated sectors, and the contentious public debates about fairness and participation in regulatory policy.

Arguing that the success of many regulations depends upon their acceptance by the public, Fischbeck, Farrow, and their contributors offer extensive, inductive evidence on the art of regulatory analysis. The resulting book provides "real world" examples of regulation, and a demonstration of how to synthesize analytical skills with a knowledge of physical and social processes.

Paul Fischbeck is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering and Social Policy and the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. R. Scott Farrow is director of the Center for the Study and Improvement of Regulation at Carnegie Mellon University.