Cass Sunstein Quotes

In recent years, Republicans have argued that Congress is a more responsible policymaker than the executive branch. But when it comes to regulation, Congress is often much worse, and for just one reason: Executive agencies almost always focus on both costs and benefits, and Congress usually doesn't.

Here in the UK the government has decided to accept the recommendations of the Better Regulation Task Force to measure and make targeted reductions in the administrative costs - the red tape costs - that regulations impose on business.

When businesses affirmatively like regulations, that's when to reach for your wallet.

As presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama have recognized, the real question is whether regulations, whether new or old, are justified. That requires a careful analysis of their costs and their benefits.

We're one of the most highly regulated industries, and we have to pay attention to what government is doing.

There is a very real danger that financial regulation will become a wolf in sheep's clothing.

We in Congress need to do everything possible to encourage and cultivate small businesses, so that they can expand and create jobs. Far too often, however, U.S. small businesses are impeded by government paperwork and bureaucratic red tape.

The reality is regulation often lags behind innovation.

You don't make a system more effective by increasing the number of regulators.

Road testing the effects of regulation on European business must become second nature to the European Union.

Is regulation per se bad? Is better regulation bad? I think better regulation is good for the business community, and I think that's something we should get together on.

Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999.

Government regulation is not a dangerous usurpation of your Constitutional rights. It's just a pain in the ass.

Regulators are very heavily lobbied and they tend to give in…. We must have strong, vigilant, regulators.

What one has created by regulation, one could address by regulation.

A focus on regulatory overreach, things that the benefit doesn't outweigh the cost, is probably the single greatest opportunity we have for having a positive impact on job creation.

Regulation has gone astray. . . . Either because they have become captives of regulated industries or captains of outmoded administrative agencies, regulators all too often encourage or approve unreasonably high prices, inadequate service, and anticompetitive behavior. The cost of this regulation is always passed on to the consumer. And that cost is astronomical.

I want regulation. I want to protect our environment. I want regulations for safety. I want all of the regulations that we need, and I want them to be so strong and so tough. But we don't need 75 percent of the repetitive, horrible regulations that hurt companies, hurt jobs, make us noncompetitive overseas with other companies from other countries.

We have got so many regulatory laws already that in general I feel that we would be just as well off if we didn't have any more.

There's nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad.

Overregulation corrupts citizens and weakens the rule of law.

The first thing I'd do [as a president] is de-regulate about 90-percent of the things that they've got regulation on, OK, including duck hunting. We're way over-regulated on everything.

You can't overestimate what happens when you encourage regulators to believe that the goal of regulation is not to regulate.

Donald Trump promises to impose, soon after his inauguration, a new requirement on federal agencies: If they want to issue a new regulation, they have to rescind two regulations that are now on the books. The idea of 'one in, two out' has rhetorical appeal, but it's going to be extremely hard to pull off.

The goal of federal regulations should be to promote health and safety, but regulatory enforcement must be balanced with common-sense policies and assistance for businesses.