Caroline Cecot

US regulatory agencies have been required to consider the equity and distributional impacts of regulations for decades. This paper examines the extent to which such analysis is done and provides recommendations for improving it. The Technology Policy Institute (TPI) analyzed 187 cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) prepared by agencies from October 2003 to January 2021. TPI finds that only two CBAs provided net benefits of a policy for a specific demographic group.

[Commentary] In the years ahead, the Federal Communications Commission will likely have to employ more rigorous analysis to meet its statutory mandate to act in the public interest. At the very least, it will have to evaluate whether its regulations do more good than harm. To this end, an Office of Economics and Data is welcome.

Though employing economic analysis will not always be simple, the FCC should meet these challenges by emulating agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, using Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) review, and encouraging independence and research. A genuine commitment to employing economic analysis without regard to particular policy preferences would yield better-informed decisions and better outcomes for the American people.

[Caroline Cecot is Affiliate Faculty at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Legal Fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law.]