Federal Regulations Cost Estimation, Rulemaking Activity, and Cost-Benefit Issues

Federal agencies issue thousands of regulations each year under delegated authority from Congress. Over the past 70 years, Congress and various Presidents have created a set of procedures agencies must follow to issue these regulations, some of which contain requirements for the calculation and consideration of costs, benefits, and other economic effects of regulations. In recent years, many Members of Congress have expressed an interest in various regulatory reform efforts that would change the current set of rulemaking requirements, including requirements to estimate costs and benefits of regulations. As part of this debate, it has become common for supporters of regulatory reform to comment on the total cost of federal regulation. This book discusses methods of estimating the total cost of federal regulations. Furthermore, the book serves to inform the congressional debate over rulemaking by analysing different ways to measure federal rulemaking activity; describes the existing requirements for cost-benefit and other types of analysis in the federal rulemaking process; and discusses options for changing the current set of analytical requirements.