Brooks’ Research Cited in Economic Report of the President
Leah Brooks
Trachtenberg Professor Leah Brooks’ research paper, co-authored with Zachary Liscow of Yale University, titled "Infrastructure Costs" has been cited in the 2024 Economic Report of the President. Their paper shows that, despite infrastructure's importance to the US economy, evidence on its cost trajectory over time is sparse. The paper documents real spending per new mile over the history of the Interstate Highway System and investigates the spending per mile increase of more than threefold from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Professor Brooks will be leading the Washington DC Urban Economics Day in May. Learn more here.
Washington Presents to Legislators and Staffers on Capitol Hill
Washington presenting at U.S. Capitol
Trachtenberg PhD student Stone Washington was at the U.S. Capitol in March presenting to members of Congress "The Case for Administrative Law Court Reform." As part of a panel of five experts, he gave his analysis of issues with U.S. federal administrative law courts and suggestions for legislative reform. Washington’s remarks were drawn from his recent Policy Report, “Conflict of Justice: Making the Case for Administrative Law Court Reform” in which he suggested that Congress pass legislation moving administrative law courts from the federal executive agencies and into the judicial branch. The briefing was hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. View a recording of the briefing below.
Transformational Giving Day Gift Will Support Senior Fellows in the Regulatory Studies Center
The Beales with GW President, Dean, School Director, RSC's Nober and Dudley, and Mascot
GW Professor Emeritus Howard Beales and GW alum Char Beales, BA '73, made history with a generous gift of $600,000 on Giving Day. The Beales Regulatory Studies Center Research Fund will support senior fellows in the Regulatory Studies Center to continue RSC founder Susan Dudley’s legacy of conducting applied research on regulation impacts.
Carrigan and Sullivan Present on OIRA Review at the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis Conference
Chris Carrigan and Mary Sullivan at the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis Conference on GW Campus
Trachtenberg Professor Chris Carrigan and Visiting Scholar Mary W. Sullivan presented at the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis Conference held on GW's campus last month. The presentation titled, "The Benefits and Costs of OIRA Review," examined the long-standing requirements through executive order that significant regulatory actions be supported by a regulatory impact analysis, and reviewed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget, before being published in the Federal Registrar. This roundtable brought together current and former senior economists to explore whether the benefits of OIRA review and RIAs justify their costs.
Yang Shows Fiscal Impact of School Aid Reductions Linked to Increased Use of Industrial Automation
Lang (Kate) Yang
ProfessorKate Yang presented "Industrial Automation and Local Public Goods" at the Association for Education Finance and Policy's annual conference. She explained how industrial automation impacts government finances. Since the 1990s, some industries increasingly used robots or fully autonomous machines programmed to complete manual tasks. Building on studies that find regions with heavier concentration of automation-prone industries see employment and wage declines, she shows that governments in these regions spend less, particularly on educational services. Reductions of school aid to localities leads to declining student test scores, likely making students less prepared in the age of technological shifts.
Susan Dudleywas quoted in the E&E article “Murky deadline looms for Biden’s regs.” Dudley also chaired a panel at the symposium "The Next Decade of Generative AI: Fostering Opportunities While Regulating Risks" on April 12.
