Is there a role for benefit-cost analysis in environmental, health, and safety regulation?

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
KENNETH J. ARROW ◽  
MAUREEN L. CROPPER ◽  
GEORGE C. EADS ◽  
ROBERT W. HAHN ◽  
LESTER B. LAVE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Regulatory Process ◽  
Safety Regulation ◽  
Environmental Health And Safety ◽  
Specific Approach ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost

The growing impact of regulations on the economy has led both Congress and the Administration to search for new ways of reforming the regulatory process. Many of these initiatives call for greater reliance on the use of economic analysis in the development and evaluation of regulations. One specific approach being advocated is benefit-cost analysis, an economic tool for comparing the desirable and undesirable impacts of proposed policies.

Is There a Role for Benefit-Cost Analysis in Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulation?

Science ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 272 (5259) ◽  
pp. 221-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. J. Arrow ◽  
M. L. Cropper ◽  
G. C. Eads ◽  
R. W. Hahn ◽  
L. B. Lave ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Safety Regulation ◽  
Environmental Health And Safety ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost

Introduction: benefit-cost analysis and the environment in developing countries

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-221
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Environmental Health And Safety ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Project Appraisal ◽  
The Us ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Benefit Cost

In one sense, everyone making a decision of any consequence uses something very like benefit-cost analysis. That is, they weigh up the pros and cons of the options confronting them and decide between them accordingly. Benefit-cost analysis is merely one systematic way of evaluating the economically relevant pros and cons of various options. The authors of the project appraisal manuals of the early 1970s (Mishan, 1971; Dasgupta et al., 1972; Pearce, 1972; Little and Mirrlees, 1974) were interested in establishing a set of rules that might ensure that the results of distinct social investment decisions would be efficient (or at least consistent). On the surface, the paper by Arrow et al. (1996) that is the focus of this forum merely argues for an extension of benefit-cost rules to an area where, as David Pearce points out in his commentary, policy-making tends to be dominated by hasty, ill-conceived, ad hoc responses to the pressures of the moment. The paper argues that environmental, health and safety regulations in the US could and should be informed by an analysis of their economically relevant costs and benefits.

Benefit–cost analysis as a mechanism for evaluating conservation policies in developing countries

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
PRIYA SHYAMSUNDAR
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Environmental Health And Safety ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Conservation Policies ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
The Tropics

Can benefit-cost analysis (BCA) be used in the developing world in the same way in which it is used in developed market economies? The paper by Arrow et al. makes a good case for employing BCA to evaluate environmental, health, and safety regulations in the United States. It offers a number of principles to guide the use of benefit-cost analyses, some of which can be applied to developing countries. Conservation policies in the tropics can help illustrate the relevance of BCA for evaluating regulations in less industrialized countries. I use a set of studies on the Mantadia National Park to show in practical terms how and when BCA can serve as an effective evaluative tool.

The Council on Wage and Price Stability: A Retrospective

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 400-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hopkins ◽  
Laura Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Price Stability ◽  
Executive Order ◽  
Regulatory Oversight ◽  
White House ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Regulatory Decisions

Applying benefit-cost analysis in the White House regulatory oversight process served as a basic mission of the Council on Wage and Price Stability (CWPS) during its seven-year lifespan (1974–1981). This paper reviews that CWPS experience, which involved filing comments in over 300 proceedings at more than 25 federal regulatory agencies. The paper draws on those CWPS public comments (filings), identifying persistent and pervasive deficiencies in the economic analysis regulators then and now often use as support for new regulation. CWPS filings fostered greater acceptance of benefit-cost analysis in regulatory decisions; such analysis is now required by executive order.

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