A multi-level cost benefit approach for regulatory decision support in food safety and quality assurance scenarios

In complex policy decision situations where policy objectives can only be reached through appropriate activities of individual actors with own decision authority and individual objectives, the classical approaches for measuring the effects of regulatory initiatives through cost-benefit or related types of analysis do not provide the appropriate information for decision support. This paper discusses a framework for a multi-level analysis approach that could provide decision support in multi-level policy decision situations.