Panel Paper: Regulatory Impact Analysis of Financial Reform Regulations

Thursday, November 8, 2012 : 3:40 PM
D'Alesandro (Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel)

*Names in bold indicate Presenter

Joseph Aldy1, Arthur Fraas2 and Randall Lutter2, (1)Harvard University, (2)Resources for the Future


The financial crisis destroyed trillions of dollars of wealth, yet federal regulators are implementing the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, intended to prevent the next crisis, with virtually no quantitative economic analysis. We review recently issued proposed and final rules to implement the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation and characterize the nature/extent of any regulatory analysis provided by the issuing agency.  We identify those rules for which established methods could provide quantitative information about costs, effectiveness or benefits.  We also discuss institutional changes to facilitate the use of quantitative analysis by the independent regulatory agencies.