Measuring Regulatory Performance THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF REGULATORY POLICY: A LITERATURE REVIEW OF QUANTITATIVE EVIDENCE

This study provides a critical literature review of the theory and quantitative evidence of the impact of regulatory policy. The theory is addressed through a causal chain analysis which connects regulatory policy through the " better regulation " agenda to economic outcomes. The literature review is intended to provide a reasonably representative sample of studies on regulatory policy and governance in general; administrative simplification and reducing regulatory burdens; ex ante and ex post analyses of regulations; consultation, transparency and accountability; and regulatory institutions. The main policy lessons are highlighted, alongside discussion of the limitations of the literature in terms of content and coverage. FOREWORD OECD countries require better information about where investments in programs to improve regulations should be focused to pay growth and welfare dividends. This is necessary to target scarce resources for reform efforts, and also to communicate progress and generate the political support needed for implementing regulatory policy reforms. The OECD work on Measuring Regulatory Performance is intended to assist countries with the task of identifying this information through the development of measurement frameworks and the collection and interpretation of salient data (The OECD is developing a framework for Regulatory Policy Evaluation to help countries evaluate the design and implementation of their regulatory policy against the achievement of strategic regulatory objectives (OECD, forthcoming). Its development has been informed by a series of three expert papers. This paper surveys the literature on existing attempts at measuring the contribution of regulatory policy to improved performance. It is the third paper in the OECD series of expert papers on Measuring Regulatory Performance. A first paper was prepared by Cary Coglianese, to discuss the attribution of changes in economic or welfare outcomes to changes in regulation and regulatory policy and suggest outcome indicators for regulatory policy. to examine country practices for measuring the performance of regulatory policy, and develop options for a set of indicators that OECD countries can use for their regulatory policy evaluation (access the experts' papers available at The project of developing a framework for Regulatory Policy Evaluation has also been directly supported by the Government of Canada, which in 2011 provided a financial contribution to the project, and by the Government of Spain, which hosted an expert workshop on Measuring Regulatory Performance in Madrid on 26-27 September 2011. Overall the work has benefitted from the active engagement of the steering group on Measuring Regulatory Performance, which has …