This NYU study suggests using cost benefit analysis to determine the best way for government to look at regulation and development. It points out that to date cost benefit analysis has been used to check unnecessary actions by government agencies but has rarely been used to check against agency inaction. This is a long, detailed academic study that may be of particular interest to policy wonks. Unfortunately for those of us less interested in detail the Executive Summary was not ... More »

Cost analysis of government regulations on private industry have been, and will continue being, one of the most hotly debated issues. Both the right and left pay lip service to regulatory cost analysis, but when push comes to shove both come up with starkly different numbers.. numbers that reflect less about actual costs and benefits and more about the wants and needs of their particular political constituencies. As the old saying goes, "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure."