• Subject Areas
   – Energy & the Environment
   – First Nations
   – Health
   – Justice
   – Labour Market & Education
   – Regulatory Impacts
   – Research & Development
   – Safety
• Techniques
• Publications
• HBHC Evaluation

Regulation is used as a policy instrument by government to achieve a wide range of goals. Government regulatory policy requires that regulatory programs be structured to maximize gains relative to costs imposed on Canadian government, business and individuals. Identifying and valuing the benefit and cost impacts and assessing whether the benefits exceed costs is the domain of cost-benefit analysis.

We have used cost-benefit analysis to assess the value to Canadians of a broad range of regulatory initiatives:

• We have assessed the costs and benefits of environmental regulations designed to protect the ozone layer. A first study, Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Implementing the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, assessed fewer skin cancer cases and deaths and fewer cataracts through the regulation. The value of this benefit was compared to the extra costs to comply with the restrictions on ozone depleting substances. We have done a series of studies to assess more stringent regulations to protect the ozone layer. (Also see Energy and the Environment.)

• Effective regulation tries to minimize the cost of the regulatory process. We identified the economic efficiency of using transferable allowances to implement a regulatory restriction in Socio-Economic Impacts of Reducing Consumption of HCFCs by Allocating Transferable Allowances to Producers and Importers.

• Effective regulation tries to maximize the value through the regulatory process. Evidence of dangerous use of charcoal briquettes in the U.S. led Canada to review its own charcoal regulations. We identified the incidence of use and hazardous use of charcoal briquettes in Canada through 14,000 completions to our household mail panel. A mall intercept survey identified consumer reaction to four potential labels for the product, thereby identifying which might lead to safer use. We documented our findings in our Consumer Research Related to Charcoal Regulations.