Regulatory Reform:
Information on Costs, Cost-Effectiveness, and Mandated Deadlines for Regulations
PEMD-95-18BR: Published: Mar 8, 1995. Publicly Released: Mar 8, 1995.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on regulatory reform legislation, focusing on: (1) the cumulative costs of federal regulations; (2) the cost-effectiveness of regulations; and (3) trends in mandated deadlines for significant regulations.
GAO found that: (1) regulations impose costs on society and can slow economic growth, although they have a net positive effect when the value of the benefits exceeds the costs; (2) federal spending on regulatory programs remained relatively constant from 1977 to 1992; (3) cumulative regulatory costs to the economy increased about 9 percent from 1977 to 1994, but the percentage of gross national product devoted to the cost of federal regulations decreased over the period, because gross domestic product grew steadily; (4) in 1990, researchers estimated the costs of five categories of regulation at $110 billion for environmental regulations, $37 billion for other social regulations, $80 billion for economic regulations, $191 billion for process requirements, and $143 billion for transfers, a total of $562 billion; (5) studies indicate that cost-effectiveness across agencies and statutes varies enormously and agencies may have included cost considerations in some regulatory decisions; and (6) the percentage of regulations issued under a mandated deadline increased between 1985 and 1992, but fewer than 50 percent of regulations were issued under a deadline.
Jan 13, 2021
-
Department of Energy Contracting:
Improvements Needed to Ensure DOE Assesses Its Full Range of Contracting Fraud RisksGAO-21-44: Published: Jan 13, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 13, 2021.
Dec 16, 2020
-
Data Governance:
Agencies Made Progress in Establishing Governance, but Need to Address Key MilestonesGAO-21-152: Published: Dec 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 16, 2020.
Dec 9, 2020
-
2020 Census:
The Bureau Concluded Field Work but Uncertainty about Data Quality, Accuracy, and Protection RemainsGAO-21-206R: Published: Dec 9, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 9, 2020.
Dec 3, 2020
-
2020 Census:
Census Bureau Needs to Assess Data Quality Concerns Stemming from Recent Design ChangesGAO-21-142: Published: Dec 3, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 3, 2020. -
2020 Census:
Census Bureau Needs to Ensure Transparency over Data QualityGAO-21-262T: Published: Dec 3, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 3, 2020.
Nov 30, 2020
-
Federal Buying Power:
OMB Can Further Advance Category Management Initiative by Focusing on Requirements, Data, and TrainingGAO-21-40: Published: Nov 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 30, 2020.
Nov 24, 2020
-
Disaster Response:
Agencies Should Assess Contracting Workforce Needs and Purchase Card Fraud RiskGAO-21-42: Published: Nov 24, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 24, 2020.
Nov 23, 2020
-
Federal Contracting:
Actions Needed to Improve Department of Labor's Enforcement of Service Worker Wage ProtectionsGAO-21-11: Published: Oct 29, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 23, 2020.
Nov 18, 2020
-
Federal Telework:
Key Practices That Can Help Ensure the Success of Telework ProgramsGAO-21-238T: Published: Nov 18, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 18, 2020.
Oct 7, 2020
-
Unaccompanied Children:
Actions Needed to Improve Grant Application Reviews and Oversight of Care FacilitiesGAO-20-609: Published: Sep 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 7, 2020.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here