REGULATORY REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL-POLICY - THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF HEALTH-HEALTH ANALYSIS

Health-health analysis (HHA) posits a seemingly unassailable criterion for regulatory assessment: policies intended to protect human health ought to exhibit positive health benefits. Despite the apparent logic of this criterio, it is important to ask whether it would aid in the q uest for better public policies. In the context of environmental issue s, we find that HHA can be useful by reminding us that it is the net h ealth impact of a proposed regulation that can be important. However, we also find that in most applications the health impacts of regulator y compliance costs are unlikely to be significant. Conventional benefi t-cost analysis ought to remain the principal tool of economic assessm ent of environmental laws and regulations.