The Trojan Horse of cost benefit analysis
By John Kemp The writer is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.
LONDON – Should federal government agencies have to prove the benefits of new regulations outweigh the costs before introducing them?
It sounds like a simple question with an obvious answer. But the role of cost-benefit analysis in writing federal regulations (and even laws) is shaping up to be one of the biggest battles between the Obama administration and business groups in 2012.
On one side are business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), backed by conservative lawyers such as Eugene Scalia (son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia) and a group of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit who oversee most federal rule-writing.
On the other is the White House, the Treasury and a host of agencies stretching from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
QUEST FOR QUANTIFICATION
What was once an esoteric legal dispute is turning fiercely political.
@Mott,
Correction: Third paragraph should have read “Only to such extent as unelected and unaccountable government bureaucrats unreasonably and without appropriate justification impose artificial and unnecessary “qualifications” on the accomplishment of projects or employment of people is there any connection between the adverse effect of ill-considered and arbitrary bureaucratic actions and inactions and the reciprocal and adverse effect on American’s “cost of living”.