In most agencies, economists almost never interact with lobbyists. The lobbyists always aim at senior management, and almost all lobbying takes the form of 'We care about X and we want you to validate that by signalling…
The optimal cutoff would probably have been $20 million rather than the $10 million that was chosen, but that change would have been too much for a lot of people. If I had only presented options from $1M up to $20M,…
In many cases (the water standard rule was one of them) the bureaucrats are acting on direct orders from Congress. Congress usually passes those laws demanding regulations to be written as a result of people asking the…
Excellent comment. Many people associate 'economist' with politicized talking heads arguing about ideological issues, but that is a tiny fraction of the profession, just like the most politicized tech CEOs are the tiny…
When irrigation water is put directly on produce that will soon be consumed raw, it will transmit pathogens and should be drinking-water standard. This was not disputed, and was in the final rule. However, if the water…
I definitely understand that centralized bureaucracy and decision making can be very harmful. I also know that the lack of centralized bureaucracy and decision making can also be very harmful, for example by killing…
In most agencies, economists almost never interact with lobbyists. The lobbyists always aim at senior management, and almost all lobbying takes the form of 'We care about X and we want you to validate that by signalling…
The optimal cutoff would probably have been $20 million rather than the $10 million that was chosen, but that change would have been too much for a lot of people. If I had only presented options from $1M up to $20M,…
In many cases (the water standard rule was one of them) the bureaucrats are acting on direct orders from Congress. Congress usually passes those laws demanding regulations to be written as a result of people asking the…
Excellent comment. Many people associate 'economist' with politicized talking heads arguing about ideological issues, but that is a tiny fraction of the profession, just like the most politicized tech CEOs are the tiny…
When irrigation water is put directly on produce that will soon be consumed raw, it will transmit pathogens and should be drinking-water standard. This was not disputed, and was in the final rule. However, if the water…
I definitely understand that centralized bureaucracy and decision making can be very harmful. I also know that the lack of centralized bureaucracy and decision making can also be very harmful, for example by killing…