Setting the Record Straight on Cost-Benefit Analysis and Financial Reform at the Securities and Exchange Commission

Summary: The Peterson Institute hosted a meeting July 30, 2012, to discuss the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and to release the new report "Setting the Record Straight on Cost-Benefit Analysis and Financial Reform at the Securities and Exchange Commission" (SEC) by Better Markets, a nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the financial markets. An important new development has emerged in the debate over the Dodd-Frank law: an attempt to subject every regulation to extensive cost-benefit analysis with the industry claiming that the costs of financial reform are too high, that they will hurt growth and employment, and that the agencies have failed to conduct proper analysis. These arguments have prevailed in a major court case and have had a significant impact at the regulatory agencies. In response, SEC rulemaking has almost stopped and has revised some of its practices.