1. Behavioral economics: implications for regulatory behavior
- Author
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James C. Cooper and William E. Kovacic
- Subjects
Economics and Econometrics ,Incentive ,Confirmation bias ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Loss aversion ,Economics ,Positive economics ,Public choice ,Heuristics ,Behavioral economics ,Endowment effect ,Bounded rationality ,media_common - Abstract
Behavioral economics (BE) examines the implications for decision-mak- ing when actors suffer from biases documented in the psychological literature. This article considers how such biases affect regulatory decisions. The article posits a sim- ple model of a regulator who serves as an agent to a political overseer. The regulator chooses a policy that accounts for the rewards she receives from the political over- seer—whose optimal policy is assumed to maximize short-run outputs that garner political support, rather than long-term welfare outcomes—and the weight the regula- tor puts on the optimal long run policy. Flawed heuristics and myopia are likely to lead regulators to adopt policies closer to the preferences of political overseers than they would otherwise. The incentive structure for regulators is likely to reward those who adopt politically expedient policies, either intentionally (due to a desire to please the political overseer) or accidentally (due to bounded rationality). The article urges that careful thought be given to calls for greater state intervention, especially when those calls seek to correct firm biases. The article proposes measures that focus rewards to regulators on outcomes rather than outputs as a way to help ameliorate regulatory biases.
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