U.S. 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. We analyze 187 cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) prepared by agencies from October 2003 to January 2021. We find that only two CBAs provided net benefits of a policy for a specific demographic group. Furthermore, only 20 percent of CBAs calculate some benefits by group (typically for demographic groups) and only 19 percent calculate some costs by group (typically for industry groups such as small entities). Overall, the differences between presidential administrations are relatively small compared to the differences between agencies in their performance using our measures of distributional analysis. And virtually no CBAs provide a distributional analysis that could help regulators evaluate whether the regulation, on net, advantages or disadvantages a particular group.
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. She is also a contributor to the Technology Policy Institute blog. She teaches environmental and administrative law and has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and law reviews on cost-benefit analysis, regulatory reform, and environmental regulation.
Professor Cecot holds a JD from Vanderbilt Law School, where she received the Robert F. Jackson and Archie B. Martin Memorial Prizes for her grades; was elected to Order of the Coif; and served as Senior Articles Editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review and Articles Editor for the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review. Professor Cecot also holds a PhD in law and economics from Vanderbilt University. Following her graduate studies, Professor Cecot was the Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Law and Economics at Vanderbilt Law School and clerked for the Honorable Raymond J. Lohier, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She was also Legal Fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law, where she authored amicus curiae briefs and submitted comments on environmental and regulatory issues. Professor Cecot graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude with an AB degree in economics.
