Efficiency and Equity in Regulation
The Joseph Biden Administration has signaled an interest in ensuring that regulations appropriately benefit vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. Prior presidential administrations have focused on ensuring that regulations are efficient, maximizing the net benefits to society, without considering who benefits or who loses from these policies. Supporters of the current process are concerned that pursuing equity will come at significant cost to efficiency and ultimately leave everyone worse off. This framework—efficiency versus equity—is misguided and counterproductive in many cases. Caroline Cecot's Efficiency and Equity in Regulation, 76 Vand. L. Rev. 361 (2023), from which this abstract is adapted, proposes two rules of thumb for agencies to follow in order to promote both equity and efficiency using their existing authorities and avoid lose-lose scenarios.