Counting regulations and measuring regulatory impact: a call for nuance

The effect of regulation on virtually every aspect of the lives of US citizens has led to an understandable impulse to measure this total impact. It has led to various attempts to count the total number of regulations and regulatory requirements, and to total the costs and benefits of regulation. And these counting mechanisms have played prominent roles in discussions over statutory changes designed to reform the process by which we write regulations. However, counting regulations in a meaningful way and measuring their cumulative economic impact is an astonishingly difficult task. For this reason, there have been a wide variety of methods that scholars and advocates have employed in the effort to do so. This article is an attempt to catalog the most prominent methods of counting regulations and measuring regulatory impact in the United States, describe their strengths and weaknesses, and suggest alternative approaches to attack this important question. We suggest both using large language models and detailed analysis of Paperwork Reduction Act data and, at the opposite extreme, doing more qualitative work on the consequences of regulation on individuals, firms, and industries.