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The Council on Wage and Price Stability: A Retrospective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2015

Thomas Hopkins  and
Laura Stanley
Thomas Hopkins*
Affiliation:
Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA, e-mail: thopkins42@gmail.com
Laura Stanley
Affiliation:
Mercatus Center at George Mason University, USA
*
*e-mail: thopkins42@gmail.com
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Abstract

Applying benefit-cost analysis in the White House regulatory oversight process served as a basic mission of the Council on Wage and Price Stability (CWPS) during its seven-year lifespan (1974–1981). This paper reviews that CWPS experience, which involved filing comments in over 300 proceedings at more than 25 federal regulatory agencies. The paper draws on those CWPS public comments (filings), identifying persistent and pervasive deficiencies in the economic analysis regulators then and now often use as support for new regulation. CWPS filings fostered greater acceptance of benefit-cost analysis in regulatory decisions; such analysis is now required by executive order.

Keywords

D04D61D62D7H00K2K30K4L38L51benefit-cost analysislaw and regulationregulationregulatory burdenregulatory oversightregulatory reform
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Summer 2015 , pp. 400 - 431
Copyright
© Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis 2015 

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