Pubblicazioni

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Stakeholder participation in regulatory processes has become increasingly common. The literature on citizen, customer and consumer participation in regulation shows a rise in these types of engagement, based primarily on individual case studies. However, we lack a solid empirical base for the discussion of this trend. This paper asks to what extent and why this rise in participation in regulatory policy-making occurs, creating a cross-sector, cross-country map of participatory regulation. The research is based on a quantitative, dictionary-based analysis of regulatory agencies' annual reports from 1998 to 2017 (n = 781). The findings show a rise in the use of terms related to participation over time, with the notable exceptions of financial and environmental regulators. These terms are most commonly used in EU level agencies, in Australia and France, while being rarely used in the German and Austrian cases. Our analysis shows that polity level variation is a key driver of how regulators use terms related to participation, and argues that such participation is less common in countries in which stakeholder participation is carried out at the national level through centralized corporatist institutions.

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This working paper introduces the key concepts and features of anticipatory innovation governance– i.e. the structures and mechanisms to allow and promote anticipatory innovation alongside other types of innovation in the public sector. This paper draws on academic literature and OECD work on a range of areas including public sector innovation, foresight, anticipatory governance and emerging technologies. The paper starts outlining an emerging framework to guide policy making in complex and uncertain contexts and sets out some questions for further research in the area of anticipatory innovation governance.

Regulations are often made during times of uncertainty and/or with haste in responding to an emergency of some kind. Ex post evaluation allows policymakers to assess whether regulations have led to the intended results that were espoused when they were first made. This recognises that all regulations are, to some extent, experiments and that some experiments fail, and others need adjusting, before the desired results materialise. As a core component of any regulatory management system, ex post evaluation is ultimately about ensuring that regulations maximise community well-being over time. This report provides guidance on the key elements of a sound ex post evaluation system. It illustrates practical elements of ex post evaluation that policymakers should follow when designing ex post evaluation systems, as well as how evaluations themselves can be conducted. As such, this report is a useful tool for countries embarking on ex post evaluations as well as for entities responsible for conducting evaluations in practice.

This policy paper was developed by the Regulatory Policy Division of the OECD Public Governance Directorate, with inputs from behavioural practitioners and policy makers in the International COVID-19 Behavioural Insights and Policy Group. It discusses from a regulatory governance perspective why behavioural insights (BI) should be considered as part of a holistic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, what governance challenges involved in deploying BI against the pandemic, and how some countries have responded to these challenges. Reflecting on these challenges and opportunities allows governments to promote resiliency by preparing the BI field for future crises.

The pace and scope of emerging technologies are creating a sea change for governments and for regulators. They challenge economic regulation by blurring the traditional definition of markets, for example, and by transcending administrative boundaries domestically and internationally. At the same time, the digital transformation is an excellent opportunity for regulators themselves to harness the power of data and digital tools to improve regulation and its delivery. Seizing this opportunity will require fit-for-purpose regulatory frameworks and governance arrangements. This report brings together case studies submitted by members of the OECD Network of Economic Regulators that highlight how regulators have analysed and tackled these issues. The case studies span nine countries and a wide range of sectors (communication, transport, energy, environmental protection) and provide concrete examples of how regulators are responding to innovation in the sectors that they oversee.

Reviving Rationality: Saving Cost-Benefit Analysis for the Sake of the Environment and Our Health explains how Donald Trump destabilized the decades-long bipartisan consensus that federal agencies must base their decisions on evidence, expertise, and analysis. Administrative agencies are charged by law with protecting values like stable financial markets and clean air. Their decisions often have profound consequences, affecting everything from the safety of workplaces to access to the dream of home ownership. Under the Trump administration, agencies have been hampered in their ability to advance these missions by the conflicting ideological whims of a changing cast of political appointees and overwhelming pressure from well-connected interest groups. Inconvenient evidence has been ignored, experts have been sidelined, and analysis has been used to obscure facts rather than inform the public. The results are grim: incoherent policy, social division, defeats in court, a demoralized federal workforce, and a loss of faith in government’s ability to respond to pressing problems. This experiment in abandoning the norms of good governance has been a disaster. Reviving Rationality explains how and why our government has abandoned rationality in recent years, and why it is so important for future administrations to restore rigorous and even-handed cost-benefit analysis if we are to return to a policymaking approach that effectively tackles the most pressing problems of our era.

olicy evaluation is a critical element of good governance, as it promotes public accountability and contributes to citizens’ trust in government. Evaluation helps ensure that decisions are rooted in trustworthy evidence and deliver desired outcomes. Drawing on the first significant cross-country survey of policy evaluation practices covering 42 countries, this report offers a systemic analysis of the institutionalisation, quality and use of evaluation across countries and looks at how these three dimensions interrelate. The report also covers cross-cutting aspects related to regulatory assessment and performance budgeting. The analysis illustrates the role and functions of key institutions within the executive, such as centres of government and ministries of finance. It also underlines the role of supreme audit institutions.