Comments on Reforms to Regulatory Cost-Benefit Analysis

July 5, 2023

The Biden administration released a set of reforms on April 6, 2023, to modernize the regulatory review process and make it work more effectively in the public interest. One of the reforms, a proposed update to Circular A-4 on “Regulatory Analysis,” would improve regulatory cost-benefit analysis. Cost-benefit analysis is an outdated and anti-regulatory economic exercise that puts too much weight on the calculable costs of regulating versus the benefits of regulating that you can’t put a price on (i.e., human dignity and life, welfare, a better environment, clean air, and clean water). The Biden administration recognizes this, and the proposed update to Circular A-4 would make cost-benefit analysis work in the public interest.