El análisis coste-beneficio y la regulación

Rob Stavins defiende la necesidad del análisis coste-beneficio como herramienta de regulación. Yo comparto el análisis, entre otras cosas porque no es nada fundamentalista. Como bien dice,

Fourth, although agencies should be required to conduct benefit-cost analyses for major decisions, and to explain why they have selected actions for which reliable evidence indicates that expected benefits are significantly less than expected costs, those agencies should not be bound by strict benefit-cost tests.  Factors other than aggregate economic benefits and costs may be important.

Fifth, benefits and costs of proposed policies should be quantified wherever possible.  But not all impacts can be quantified, let alone monetized.  Therefore, care should be taken to assure that quantitative factors do not dominate important qualitative factors in decision making.  If an agency wishes to introduce a “margin of safety” into a decision, it should do so explicitly.

En España creo que no es obligatorio, al contrario que en EEUU. Y creo que eso no es bueno. Si se hace bien, el ACB nos ayudaría a evitar muchas políticas estúpidas, y no eliminaría políticas sensatas.