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To solve a problem, first understand its cause
A key principle of smart regulation is that regulators should first understand the nature, extent, and cause of the problem they are trying to solve before they write a regulation. (It’s even the first...
View ArticleDo Energy Efficiency Regulations Create Jobs?
Earlier this year, the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized a regulation setting energy efficiency standards for microwave ovens. At the time, Heather Zichal, the Deputy Assistant to the President for...
View ArticleDoes Anyone Know the Net Benefits of Regulation?
In early August, I was invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights and Agency Action, which is chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). The topic of...
View ArticleThe Use of Science in Public Policy
For the budding social scientists out there who hope that their research will someday positively affect public policy, my colleague Jerry Ellig recently pointed out a 2012 publication from the National...
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The Precautionary Principle vs. Glow in the Dark Plants
In “The Croods,” a box office hit cartoon showing a family of cavemen, the father issues daily warnings to his family that everything new is bad. He explains to his inquisitive daughter that they have...
View Article“Regulatory Certainty” as a Justification for Regulating
A key principle of good policy making is that regulatory agencies should define the problem they are seeking to solve before finalizing a regulation. Thus, it is odd that in the economic analysis for a...
View ArticleIt’s Time to Change the Incentives of Regulators
One of the primary reasons that regulation slows down economic growth is that regulation inhibits innovation. Another example of that is playing out in real-time. Julian Hattem at The Hill recently...
View ArticleEnergy Efficiency as Foreign Aid?
A recent suite of energy efficiency regulations issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) have been criticized due to the DOE’s claim that consumers and businesses are behaving irrationally when...
View ArticleIf you’re an employee, do you still have your old health insurance plan?
The recent discovery that the federal government knew in 2010 that many people would not be able to keep their old health insurance under the Affordable Care Act has made nationwide news. But most of...
View ArticleHow many people still have their old health plans?
A few days ago, I pointed out that many people with employer-provided health insurance plans may not be able to keep the same plan, because even some small changes to employer-sponsored plans could...
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Birth control, keg stands, and moral hazard
A Colorado organization managed to produce ads promoting health insurance under the Affordable Care Act that are so goofy that some supporters thought they were a parody produced by over-caffeinated...
View ArticleWhy Mandating Higher Quality is Regressive
Lately, a lot of attention has been given to the fact that millions of Americans are seeing their health insurance plans cancelled as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka...
View ArticleWhat the Affordable Care Act Can Teach Us about Government Failure
Most people probably believe that the recent failures of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are an anomaly, and that most areas the federal government involves itself in, from education to transportation,...
View ArticleA New Year’s Gift from the Department of Energy
On New Year’s Eve, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will be denying a petition brought to the agency by the Landmark Legal Foundation. The petition had requested the DOE reconsider a...
View ArticleMarkets Fail and Governments Do Too
We often hear that markets fail when it comes to preserving the environment, so government regulation is needed to protect natural resources from the ravages of capitalism. But what happens when...
View ArticleEnvironmental Injustice at the EPA
This past week, the EPA’s science advisory board held a public hearing on efforts to measure the “environmental justice” (EJ) impacts of EPA rules. EJ refers to adverse human health and environmental...
View ArticleWhen Regulatory Agencies Ignore Comments from the Public
A few days ago, the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized a rule setting energy efficiency standards for metal halide lamp fixtures. Last October I wrote a public interest comment to the DOE to point...
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The barriers to brewing
Recently, Evan Feinberg of Generation Opportunity described some of the barriers craft brewers face. In one instance, a brewer — who does not prepare any food — was told he had to install a hood for a...
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What to do when technology outpaces the law?
The recent cease-and-desist letters from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to taxi alternatives Uber Technologies and Lyft remind me of my first trip to D.C. in 1997. An awkward high school...
View ArticleWhen new ideas meet old regulatory solutions
With the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission recently issuing cease-and-desist letters to ride-share services Lyft and Uber, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto invoked the Age of Reptiles to describe the...
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