Stuart Shapiro
Biographic Data
| ID | 3893956 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stuart Shapiro |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stuart |
| FAMILY NAME | Shapiro |
| SIGNATURE | SHAPIRO S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4057-2690 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 83 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 24 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Counting regulations and measuring regulatory impact
The effect of regulation on virtually every aspect of the lives of US citizens has led to an understandable impulse to measure this total impact. It has led to various attempts to count the total number of regulations and regulatory requirements, and to total the costs and benefits of regulation. And these counting mechanisms have played prominent roles in discussions over statutory changes designed to reform the process by which we write regulat…
Trump and the Bureaucrats
This volume discusses the long term impacts of the Trump presidency on the federal bureaucracy through the lens of neutral competence.
Trump and the Bureaucrats
Small business response to regulation
The use of behavioral economics in policy-making and public administration has neglected the heuristics that affect those who must comply with regulations. These heuristics affect the decision to comply with a regulation, and therefore they affect the effectiveness of regulations, and more generally the attitude of the regulated community toward government. In a survey and in interviews, small business owners described their compliance activities…
Can Analysis of Policy Decisions Spur Participation
Agencies are frequently required to analyze the impact of their decisions, particularly in the context of regulatory policy. Advocates of analysis have championed the transparency benefit of these requirements. But there has been very little attention paid to the effectiveness of analysis in spurring useful participation in practice. This article examines how analysis can hinder and motivate public participation. Interviews were conducted with 48…
Increasing the Impact of Policy Analysis – by Asking It to Do Less
More than 50 years ago, Charles Lindblom outlined a critique of “comprehensive-rational analysis”, the idea that policy problems should be thoroughly analyzed before solutions are implemented. Despite the influential criticism, policy analysis has spread across the globe. In the cases of cost‒benefit analysis, risk assessment, and environmental impact assessment, these analyses have attempted to be both comprehensive and rational. This article di…
Consumer’s Guide to Regulatory Impact Analysis
Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and are invaluable tools for informing decision makers. We offer 10 tips for nonspecialist policymakers and interested stakeholders who will be reading RIAs as consumers. 1. Core problem: Determine whether the RIA identifies the core problem (compelling public need) the regulation is intended to address. 2. Alternatives: Look for an objective, poli…
What's wrong with the back of the envelope? A call for simple (and timely) benefit–cost analysis
Observers across the ideological spectrum have criticized benefit–cost analysis for as long as it has been part of the rulemaking process. Still, proponents and detractors agree that analysis has morphed into a mechanism often used by agencies to justify regulatory decisions already made. We argue that a simpler analysis of more alternatives conducted earlier in the regulatory process can resuscitate it as a tool to inform policy. Recognizing tha…
Structure and Process
Attempts by politicians to control bureaucratic decisions include both structural (how is the agency making the decision organized?) and procedural (what rules must they follow when making the decision?). But how do these two modes of influence interact? This article examines the interaction between bureaucratic structure and one procedural control, the requirement that agencies conduct an analysis of their decisions prior to their issuance. I lo…
Analysis and Public Policy
How do we incorporate analytical thinking into public policy decisions? Stuart Shapiro confronts this issue in Analysis and Public Policy by looking at various types of analysis, and discussing how they are used in regulatory policy-making in the US. By looking at the successes and failures of incorporating cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, and environmental impact assessment, he draws broader lessons on its use, focusing on the interaction…
Does Haste Make Waste? How Long Does It Take to Do a Good Regulatory Impact Analysis
We examine the relationship between the amount of information in a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) and the time it takes to write and review the RIA. We find that the longer an agency spends developing the regulation and the longer that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) spends reviewing it, the more information in the analysis. However, the direction of causality is unclear. Better analyses may take more time to review. Or …
Analysis and Public Policy
The Paperwork Reduction Act
The triumph of regulatory politics
While benefit–cost analysis (BCA) is now a permanent part of the regulatory process in the United States, and many other countries around the world as well as the European Union have adopted it or are moving toward it, there have been few empirical attempts to assess either whether its use improves regulations or how BCA interacts with the political environment. We use a unique US database of the costs and benefits of 109 economically significant…
The Evolution of Cost–Benefit Analysis in US Regulatory Decisionmaking
An Evaluation of the Bush Administration Reforms to the Regulatory Process
The Bush administration has implemented more reforms to the regulatory process than any of its predecessors. These reforms are often stereotyped as anti‐regulatory. This article examines the reforms as a whole and asks which interests have been empowered by the Bush administration regulatory reforms. I believe this method is a more effective way of assessing the impact of the reforms. I find that, in addition to adding potential costs to the regu…
Does the amount of participation matter? Public comments, agency responses and the time to finalize a regulation
The Role of Procedural Controls in Osha’s Ergonomics Rulemaking
Few, if any, regulations over the past decade have received as much publicity or engendered such controversy as the ergonomics regulation of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Some may see the ergonomics rule as the paradigmatic instance of procedural hurdles holding up and eventually destroying a regulation. This article examines the role that procedure played in the ergonomics rulemaking. Lessons are drawn from an analysi…
Procedural Control of the Bureaucracy, Peer Review, and Epistemic Drift
Regulatory peer review—in which independent scientists comment on the technical underpinnings of proposed regulations—is a recently pursued form of political control of the bureaucracy. This article situates regulatory peer review in the context of both the history of technical advice to government and the principal-agent perspective often used to explain the presence of administrative procedures. Much of the academic discussion of attempts to in…
Speed Bumps and Roadblocks
This study is an attempt to relate the effectiveness of the rulemaking process to political controls on the bureaucracies that create regulations. Such controls include requiring cost-benefit analysis, requiring review of regulations by a legislative committee, and requiring interest group participation in rule writing efforts. Scholars have both credited controls with allowing politicians to control future bureaucratic decision making and blamed…
Places and Spaces
While recent developments in information and communication technologies have produced heightened concern over privacy issues, technology and privacy have a long history of interaction. The home has served as a key locus for this interaction. By distinguishing inside from outside, the home supports the allocation of particular behaviors and information to different areas, both physical and virtual. This article explores how different technologies,…
Degrees of Freedom
While the issue of standards has received attention from analysts in science and technology studies, this attention has tended to focus on either units of measurement or compatibility standards. Much less attention has been devoted to equally important standards of practice. These are the procedural or process standards which govern how technologists go about designing and constructing artifacts. Such standards have a substantial documented histo…
Software by Design
The Process of Adaptation to Environmental Conditions in a Child's Behavior
The present study cannot be considered complete. The results presented below are only the first stage in a study of the problem. We must point out that the crux of this study lies not only with the results, both obtained and anticipated, but also with the actual procedure of the investigation, so special attention is therefore devoted to it
The triumph of regulatory politics
While benefit–cost analysis (BCA) is now a permanent part of the regulatory process in the United States, and many other countries around the world as well as the European Union have adopted it or are moving toward it, there have been few empirical attempts to assess either whether its use improves regulations or how BCA interacts with the political environment. We use a unique US database of the costs and benefits of 109 economically significant…
Speed Bumps and Roadblocks
This study is an attempt to relate the effectiveness of the rulemaking process to political controls on the bureaucracies that create regulations. Such controls include requiring cost-benefit analysis, requiring review of regulations by a legislative committee, and requiring interest group participation in rule writing efforts. Scholars have both credited controls with allowing politicians to control future bureaucratic decision making and blamed…
What's wrong with the back of the envelope? A call for simple (and timely) benefit–cost analysis
Observers across the ideological spectrum have criticized benefit–cost analysis for as long as it has been part of the rulemaking process. Still, proponents and detractors agree that analysis has morphed into a mechanism often used by agencies to justify regulatory decisions already made. We argue that a simpler analysis of more alternatives conducted earlier in the regulatory process can resuscitate it as a tool to inform policy. Recognizing tha…
Does the amount of participation matter? Public comments, agency responses and the time to finalize a regulation
Procedural Control of the Bureaucracy, Peer Review, and Epistemic Drift
Regulatory peer review—in which independent scientists comment on the technical underpinnings of proposed regulations—is a recently pursued form of political control of the bureaucracy. This article situates regulatory peer review in the context of both the history of technical advice to government and the principal-agent perspective often used to explain the presence of administrative procedures. Much of the academic discussion of attempts to in…
Consumer’s Guide to Regulatory Impact Analysis
Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and are invaluable tools for informing decision makers. We offer 10 tips for nonspecialist policymakers and interested stakeholders who will be reading RIAs as consumers. 1. Core problem: Determine whether the RIA identifies the core problem (compelling public need) the regulation is intended to address. 2. Alternatives: Look for an objective, poli…
Does Haste Make Waste? How Long Does It Take to Do a Good Regulatory Impact Analysis
We examine the relationship between the amount of information in a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) and the time it takes to write and review the RIA. We find that the longer an agency spends developing the regulation and the longer that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) spends reviewing it, the more information in the analysis. However, the direction of causality is unclear. Better analyses may take more time to review. Or …
Degrees of Freedom
While the issue of standards has received attention from analysts in science and technology studies, this attention has tended to focus on either units of measurement or compatibility standards. Much less attention has been devoted to equally important standards of practice. These are the procedural or process standards which govern how technologists go about designing and constructing artifacts. Such standards have a substantial documented histo…
Places and Spaces
While recent developments in information and communication technologies have produced heightened concern over privacy issues, technology and privacy have a long history of interaction. The home has served as a key locus for this interaction. By distinguishing inside from outside, the home supports the allocation of particular behaviors and information to different areas, both physical and virtual. This article explores how different technologies,…
Structure and Process
Attempts by politicians to control bureaucratic decisions include both structural (how is the agency making the decision organized?) and procedural (what rules must they follow when making the decision?). But how do these two modes of influence interact? This article examines the interaction between bureaucratic structure and one procedural control, the requirement that agencies conduct an analysis of their decisions prior to their issuance. I lo…
The Process of Adaptation to Environmental Conditions in a Child's Behavior
The present study cannot be considered complete. The results presented below are only the first stage in a study of the problem. We must point out that the crux of this study lies not only with the results, both obtained and anticipated, but also with the actual procedure of the investigation, so special attention is therefore devoted to it
Software by Design
Degrees of Freedom
While the issue of standards has received attention from analysts in science and technology studies, this attention has tended to focus on either units of measurement or compatibility standards. Much less attention has been devoted to equally important standards of practice. These are the procedural or process standards which govern how technologists go about designing and constructing artifacts. Such standards have a substantial documented histo…
Places and Spaces
While recent developments in information and communication technologies have produced heightened concern over privacy issues, technology and privacy have a long history of interaction. The home has served as a key locus for this interaction. By distinguishing inside from outside, the home supports the allocation of particular behaviors and information to different areas, both physical and virtual. This article explores how different technologies,…
Speed Bumps and Roadblocks
This study is an attempt to relate the effectiveness of the rulemaking process to political controls on the bureaucracies that create regulations. Such controls include requiring cost-benefit analysis, requiring review of regulations by a legislative committee, and requiring interest group participation in rule writing efforts. Scholars have both credited controls with allowing politicians to control future bureaucratic decision making and blamed…
Procedural Control of the Bureaucracy, Peer Review, and Epistemic Drift
Regulatory peer review—in which independent scientists comment on the technical underpinnings of proposed regulations—is a recently pursued form of political control of the bureaucracy. This article situates regulatory peer review in the context of both the history of technical advice to government and the principal-agent perspective often used to explain the presence of administrative procedures. Much of the academic discussion of attempts to in…
An Evaluation of the Bush Administration Reforms to the Regulatory Process
The Bush administration has implemented more reforms to the regulatory process than any of its predecessors. These reforms are often stereotyped as anti‐regulatory. This article examines the reforms as a whole and asks which interests have been empowered by the Bush administration regulatory reforms. I believe this method is a more effective way of assessing the impact of the reforms. I find that, in addition to adding potential costs to the regu…
Does the amount of participation matter? Public comments, agency responses and the time to finalize a regulation
The Role of Procedural Controls in Osha’s Ergonomics Rulemaking
Few, if any, regulations over the past decade have received as much publicity or engendered such controversy as the ergonomics regulation of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Some may see the ergonomics rule as the paradigmatic instance of procedural hurdles holding up and eventually destroying a regulation. This article examines the role that procedure played in the ergonomics rulemaking. Lessons are drawn from an analysi…
The Evolution of Cost–Benefit Analysis in US Regulatory Decisionmaking
The triumph of regulatory politics
While benefit–cost analysis (BCA) is now a permanent part of the regulatory process in the United States, and many other countries around the world as well as the European Union have adopted it or are moving toward it, there have been few empirical attempts to assess either whether its use improves regulations or how BCA interacts with the political environment. We use a unique US database of the costs and benefits of 109 economically significant…
The Paperwork Reduction Act
Analysis and Public Policy
How do we incorporate analytical thinking into public policy decisions? Stuart Shapiro confronts this issue in Analysis and Public Policy by looking at various types of analysis, and discussing how they are used in regulatory policy-making in the US. By looking at the successes and failures of incorporating cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, and environmental impact assessment, he draws broader lessons on its use, focusing on the interaction…
Does Haste Make Waste? How Long Does It Take to Do a Good Regulatory Impact Analysis
We examine the relationship between the amount of information in a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) and the time it takes to write and review the RIA. We find that the longer an agency spends developing the regulation and the longer that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) spends reviewing it, the more information in the analysis. However, the direction of causality is unclear. Better analyses may take more time to review. Or …
Analysis and Public Policy
Consumer’s Guide to Regulatory Impact Analysis
Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and are invaluable tools for informing decision makers. We offer 10 tips for nonspecialist policymakers and interested stakeholders who will be reading RIAs as consumers. 1. Core problem: Determine whether the RIA identifies the core problem (compelling public need) the regulation is intended to address. 2. Alternatives: Look for an objective, poli…
What's wrong with the back of the envelope? A call for simple (and timely) benefit–cost analysis
Observers across the ideological spectrum have criticized benefit–cost analysis for as long as it has been part of the rulemaking process. Still, proponents and detractors agree that analysis has morphed into a mechanism often used by agencies to justify regulatory decisions already made. We argue that a simpler analysis of more alternatives conducted earlier in the regulatory process can resuscitate it as a tool to inform policy. Recognizing tha…
Structure and Process
Attempts by politicians to control bureaucratic decisions include both structural (how is the agency making the decision organized?) and procedural (what rules must they follow when making the decision?). But how do these two modes of influence interact? This article examines the interaction between bureaucratic structure and one procedural control, the requirement that agencies conduct an analysis of their decisions prior to their issuance. I lo…
Can Analysis of Policy Decisions Spur Participation
Agencies are frequently required to analyze the impact of their decisions, particularly in the context of regulatory policy. Advocates of analysis have championed the transparency benefit of these requirements. But there has been very little attention paid to the effectiveness of analysis in spurring useful participation in practice. This article examines how analysis can hinder and motivate public participation. Interviews were conducted with 48…
Increasing the Impact of Policy Analysis – by Asking It to Do Less
More than 50 years ago, Charles Lindblom outlined a critique of “comprehensive-rational analysis”, the idea that policy problems should be thoroughly analyzed before solutions are implemented. Despite the influential criticism, policy analysis has spread across the globe. In the cases of cost‒benefit analysis, risk assessment, and environmental impact assessment, these analyses have attempted to be both comprehensive and rational. This article di…
Small business response to regulation
The use of behavioral economics in policy-making and public administration has neglected the heuristics that affect those who must comply with regulations. These heuristics affect the decision to comply with a regulation, and therefore they affect the effectiveness of regulations, and more generally the attitude of the regulated community toward government. In a survey and in interviews, small business owners described their compliance activities…
Trump and the Bureaucrats
This volume discusses the long term impacts of the Trump presidency on the federal bureaucracy through the lens of neutral competence.
Trump and the Bureaucrats
Counting regulations and measuring regulatory impact
The effect of regulation on virtually every aspect of the lives of US citizens has led to an understandable impulse to measure this total impact. It has led to various attempts to count the total number of regulations and regulatory requirements, and to total the costs and benefits of regulation. And these counting mechanisms have played prominent roles in discussions over statutory changes designed to reform the process by which we write regulat…
Political science (16 works) · Economics (14 works) · Business (12 works) · Regulation and Compliance Studies (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Law (8 works)