In the News

There is evidence to support the view that the government is actually encouraging citizens to live in areas most in danger of flood damage. According to a 2010 report issued by the Institute for Policy Integrity, Congress has historically set the premium rate too low for flood insurance — effectively subsidizing building in flood-prone areas at the expense of taxpayers at large. This practice has helped drive the fund $19 billion in debt, caused mostly by the unusually severe damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. In addition, the report argued that the environmental effects of the federal government’s flood-insurance policy may be more severe than the financial effects.

In fact, the most up-to-date figures show about 8.5 percent fewer regulations in Obama’s first 46 months than in the same time frame for Bush. That tally comes from the Office of Management and Budget.

“The story is much more of continuity than radical change,” said Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law.

Opinions on climate change were examined in a 2009 survey of economists who had written at least one academic paper on the subject. Out of the 144 respondents, more than 94 per cent believed that the United States should sign a global treaty committing to greenhouse gas reductions. Only 2 per cent of the respondents believe that the U.S. should not seek to reduce GHG emissions.

EPA is planning major changes to its stormwater regulations. These would be the most significant changes since the federal stormwater regulations were enacted nearly a quarter century ago.

For its part, the S.E.C. has hired additional economists to scrutinize rules and published guidelines for evaluating regulations. “The S.E.C. is finally starting to figure it out,” said Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University Law School. “The new approach just might save Dodd-Frank.”

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel threw out an EPA rule that would have dramatically decreased interstate air pollution. The EPA’s rule had enormous benefits, estimated between $120 and $280 billion per year, with low costs that total less than $2.5 billion. The rule was anticipated to save tens of thousands of lives and prevent over a million missed days of work or school per year.

Cass Sunstein recently announced his departure from the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), and an acting director will occupy the post most likely until after Election Day. Whether President Obama gets another bite at the apple or Governor Romney gets a shot at the next appointment, there are certain tenets that should be adhered to when looking for a new OIRA director.

Within a few months of Inauguration Day, the next president will need to decide on how to deal with serious risks to the Internet’s innovation machine. If it goes the wrong way, online startups could be threatened and users could be in for less high-quality content on the Web. Clearly, that would be a downer, but it would also have significant financial implications, as the online sector powers economic growth with investment dollars. By 2016, US e-commerce retail sales will reach $362 billion dollars, and that’s only a fraction of the value of the Web.

A price on carbon emission is necessary to make real headway in addressing global warming. Without it the public picks up the bill for the costs of carbon that include destructive changes in climate patterns. And though carbon pricing remains politically contentious, it can be a viable solution if revenue is paid out as a rebate to energy ratepayers.

A study from NYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity similarly found that newspapers’ use of the phrase “job-killing regulation” increased 17,550% between 2007 and 2011.