Evaluating Regulatory Performance

Authors

Cary Coglianese, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

This article presents a framework for systematically evaluating the performance of regulations and regulatory processes. Offering an accessible account of the fundamentals of evaluation, the article explains the need for indicators to measure relevant outcomes of concern and research designs to support inferences about the extent to which a regulation or regulatory process under evaluation has actually caused any change in measured outcomes. Indicators will depend on the specific problems of concern to policymakers as well as on data availability, but the best indicators will almost always be those that measure the ultimate problem the regulation or process was intended to solve. In addition, research designs should seek to emulate the structure of laboratory experiments to permit valid causal inferences about the impacts of a regulation or process under review. The article explains techniques for controlling confounders and attributing both intended and unintended effects to regulation. It concludes by offering a framework for institutionalizing best practices of regulatory evaluation.

Repository Citation

Cary Coglianese, Evaluating Regulatory Performance, 8 U. Pa. J. L. & Pub. Affairs (2023).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jlpa/vol8/iss1/8