1.1
Nixon & Ford: The
Beginning of Impact Analysis
Following the formation of the EPA by
Congress in 1970, President Nixon launched the “Quality of Life” program
in 1971, imposing upon the intervening agencies in the environmental domain,
the health and security of workers, taking into account the impact of their
regulatory projects on businesses.
This program, brought into the open by
Jim Tozzi ,8 is considered to be the first towards the concept of
“Presidential Review of Regulations”.
A short time after his arrival in
1974, President Ford would impose impact evaluation of their regulations on
inflation upon executive agencies (Inflation Impact Statements), and
would create the Council on Wage and Price Stability – CWPS, the first central
structure for regulatory review directly linked to the White House.
Comprising primarily economists, this
group first began by focusing on activities regarding the handling of
inflation, before examining the effects of regulation on the economy in general
on a larger scale. This change of direction was formalized by Executive Order
11949 in 1976, which was changed into Economic Impact Statements
entitled the Inflation Impact Statements demanded of the agencies.
Extraction from:
“Les
analyses d’’impact et la prééparation des rééglementations publiques aux
Etats-Unis”
8 In charge of the review of impact analyses under four administrations (Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan), Jim Tozzi is considered as one of the fathers of impact analyses for regulation in the United States. Maintaining his role under Carter, he would become Undersecretary of the OIRA under Reagan. He is currently founder and director of a think tank, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, fervent partisan in control of leading the OIRA to bring to the open the cost analyses beneficial to the agencies.