Valuing Life: Humanizing the Regulatory State

In"Valuing Life, "Cass R. Sunstein uses his considerable personal experience and knowledge of law, policy, and behavioral studies to show how we can humanize regulation, and why we ought to do so. All governments regulate: they limit private conduct in order to promote important social goals, such as worker safety, clean air, racial and sexual equality, safe food, or greater financial security. As the U.S. regulatory czar, the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Sunstein oversaw regulation in a dazzling variety of areas, and this experience informs his book." Valuing Life"reveals how OIRA actually worksand how it can work betterfrom an on-the-ground perspective. With engaging examples drawn from his own experience, he explains how OIRA and cost-benefit analysis, a cornerstone of regulatory practice in this country, can benefit from taking behavioral and psychological studies into account. The effectiveness of government is often a product of how people respond to risk or fall prey to certain biases, such as overreaction to bad events. Covering some of the most important topics of our time, the book is linked by three core ideas: we must attend to the human consequences of policies; take account of how people actually behave; and respect human dignity. "