Calls for benefit-cost analysis in rule-making based on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act have revealed a paucity of work on allocative efficiency in financial markets. We propose three principles to help fill this gap. First, we highlight the need to quantify the "statistical cost of a...

Politicians and commentators have from time to time proposed that regulations be suspended or delayed during recessions because of their adverse impact on employment. We evaluate this argument from within a macroeconomic framework. We argue that a case can be made for what we call...

When a federal regulatory agency issues a major regulation, the agency usually must provide an analysis of the anticipated costs and monetized benefits. Yet there is a large category of regulations that has escaped such scrutiny: so-called "transfer" regulations that determine how money and...