My heart’s on fire, OIRA

Sunstein Nudging His Students

What could be more exciting than a full New York Times expose, complete with action photos, on the new OIRA director, Cass Sunstein?

Well, how about a blistering response from University of California professor, Brad DeLong?

Here we have yet another example of why law professors should simply not be allowed to practice law and economics or moral philosophy without a license–and of how Cass Sunstein has never bothered to do the work necessary to acquire a license to practice law and economics.

Both pieces are interesting reads alongside our work in Econ 280 this week on The Stern Review and William Nordhaus’s critique of it.

Wait, what’s that?  You don’t know what OIRA is?  Well, it’s the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, housed in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.  These are the folks who review agency regulations twice (!) during the federal rulemaking process. The OIRA is charge, among other things, with helping agencies to work through benefit-cost analysis — the source of Professor DeLong’s ire in this case.

So if administrative regulation piques your interest, this is your lucky day.