Costs and Benefits of Government Regulation

An analysis of costs and benefits of government regulation dealt with the various types of regulatory costs to society, alternatives to regulatory methods, and the need for coordination of regulation. Regulatory costs include direct costs of compliance such as costs of paperwork, equipment modifications, and testing procedures. Indirect costs result from the redirection of industrial research and development efforts and from conflicting regulations and goals. Alternatives to current regulatory methods include lowering the cost of regulation through administrative improvements, regulation which specifies results without specifying methods, use of financial incentives, selective exemptions, eliminating unnecessary regulation, and eliminating the use of regulation to achieve goals which can be met by more direct means. There is a need for Government-wide coordination in order to establish regulatory priorities.