Regulation Regulation Management
Regulation management focuses on regulation as such and analyzes its effects on companies or industries and their business models as well as customers and their consumer behavior.
Companies are put in a position to systematically show political shapers and decision-makers the market-economy limits of political intervention and to demand a pragmatic, solution-oriented debate. Regulation is an instrument of politics to normatively influence the behavior of companies and consumers. Keywords here are "social economics" or "nudging". This type of behavior-based regulation is gaining more and more influence in policy-making. Such effects are presented in the "Regulatory Impact Assessments", which are also becoming increasingly relevant.
The British government had already created an institution in 2010, the „Behavioural Insights Team“, to push for behavior-based regulation to improve government policy and government services. In the USA, the White House in 2013 launched the „Social and Behavioral Sciences Initiative” All regulatory authorities are required to conduct an evidence-based review of all policy proposals. And the German government has also installed a team of behavioral economists in the Chancellery in 2014 to modernize German policy approaches accordingly.
In May 2015, the European Commission also adopted new guidelines and a reform package (REFIT - Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme) with the „Better regulation for better results – An EU Agenda“. According to this, in future impact assessments („Regulatory Impact Assessments“) are to be carried out throughout the entire legislative process. Parliament and Council are explicitly requested to subject substantial amendments they propose in the legislative process to their own impact assessments.
At the same time, the importance of the one-sided arguments put forward by companies regarding their being affected is declining. Losses in jobs or in value creation are accepted especially in industries with a problematic reputation for the protection of consumers or the environment. In contrast, economic interdependencies and systemic effects on society as a whole are more important.
This is why progressive companies, inspired by the method of "Regulatory Impact Assessment", are moving towards a holistic approach to regulation as such and asking whether a measure is suitable for changing framework conditions in such a way that the associated goals are effectively achieved in the market economy reality.
In contrast to mere opinion debates, such discussions are based on evidence. The advantage here is who can present better founded scenarios, why a measure works or not works to what extent.
In this way, companies are put in a position to face politics at eye level in the area of "regulatory economics".