The Unlikely Story of American Regulatory Socialism

James Broughel

doi:10.35297/qjae.010089

Abstract

The conventional wisdom has it that US Democrats and those on the American left support incremental steps in the direction of socialism, if not an all-out endorsement of the concept. However, in at least one area—regulation—Republicans and the American political right have also, albeit unwittingly, spread the seeds of socialism not just in Washington, DC, but all across the world. This article reviews the history of federal regulation in the United States, and in particular the arcane, technical history of cost-benefit analysis (CBA), a tool that has become increasingly central in battles over regulation between the Left and the Right. Although right-wing political operatives latched on to CBA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the tool has a long, complicated history, aspects of which could even be called socialist in nature.

Highlights

The conventional wisdom has it that US Democrats and those on the American left endorse a powerful central government, are skeptical of business, and, perhaps more than ever, support incremental steps in the direction of socialism, if not an
Quart J Austrian Econ (2021) 24.1:147–165 all-out endorsement of the concept. This conventional wisdom is misleading in the sense that the American political right and Republicans have albeit unwittingly, spread the seeds of socialism not just in Washington, DC, but all across the world
One must review the history of federal regulation in the United States, and in particular the arcane, technical history of cost-benefit analysis (CBA), a tool that has become increasingly central in battles over regulation between the Left and the Right

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The conventional wisdom has it that US Democrats and those on the American left endorse a powerful central government, are skeptical of business, and, perhaps more than ever, support incremental steps in the direction of socialism, if not an. The tool’s roots in federal policy trace back as far as the 1930s, including early use by the Army Corps of Engineers (Tozzi 2011), CBA’s place in government wasn’t cemented until the 1980s and the Reagan Revolution In one of his first acts as president, Ronald Reagan signed executive order 12291, which required that executive branch regulatory agencies prepare a cost-benefit analysis for their major regulations.. Minor modifications were made beyond this, but they paled in comparison to the broader shifts in the federal administrative apparatus that Reagan’s order helped usher in and which Clinton’s order reaffirmed Despite this development, many on the left continued to resist the cost-benefit state, even while the analytical tool became institutionalized in American government and even started to be adopted by the fifty states and by other countries. Our Columnists Assess Obama’s Presidency.” Bloomberg, Jan. 10, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-01-10/ farewell-to-the-chief-our-columnists-assess-obama-s-presidency

BENEFIT ANALYSIS

OF THE PRESENT