Imbalancing Act

Environmental regulations cost Americans roughly $150 billion a year, and we don’t seem to be getting our money’s worth. A study released last summer by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimated that the Environmental Protection Agency’s actions cost more than $7.6 million for each year of life saved.

In response to such profligacy, many critics of the EPA argue that the agency should be forced to weigh the costs and benefits of regulations before implementing them. Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America includes legislation that would impose such a requirement. But reformers who put their faith in cost—benefit analysis should take a look at the EPA’s recent report on the impact of a nationwide smoking ban. They will see how easy it is to justify a regulation when you get to decide which costs and benefits to consider and how to measure them. The report suggests that, unless Congress establishes effective procedures for challenging the EPA’s findings, cost-benefit analysis may simply become a cover for regulation as usual.

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Jacob Sullum

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Environmental regulations cost Americans roughly $150 billion a year, and we don’t seem to be getting our money’s worth. A study released last summer by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimated that the Environmental Protection Agency’s actions cost more than $7.6 million for each year of life saved.

In response to such profligacy, many critics of the EPA argue that the agency should be forced to weigh the costs and benefits of regulations before implementing them. Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America includes legislation that would impose such a requirement. But reformers who put their faith in cost—benefit analysis should take a look at the EPA’s recent report on the impact of a nationwide smoking ban. They will see how easy it is to justify a regulation when you get to decide which costs and benefits to consider and how to measure them. The report suggests that, unless Congress establishes effective procedures for challenging the EPA’s findings, cost-benefit analysis may simply become a cover for regulation as usual.