Cost-Benefit Analysis and Issue Advocacy

Practitioner Workshop
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
New York University, Lipton Hall
108 West 3rd Street
Policy Integrity’s Second Annual Practitioner Workshop will feature a series of tutorials designed to provide information for legal
advocates on incorporating cost-benefit and economic analysis into an array of policy areas, including environment, public health,
technology, and criminal justice. CLE credit is available.

9:00 am–9:30 am Breakfast & Registration [Lipton Hall]

9:30 am–9:55 am Welcome: Richard L. Revesz Dean, New York University School of Law
[Lipton Hall] Faculty Director, Policy Integrity

10:00 am–11:20 am Session 1: Breakout—Economic Choices and Methods

Economics and Climate Change [Lipton Hall]

Britt Groosman Senior Economic Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund
Michael A. Livermore Executive Director, Policy Integrity
Adjunct Professor, NYU School of Law

Countless government policies have potential climate impacts: from energy efficiency standards to agricultural subsidies. How
government chooses to value the costs and benefits of climate change therefore will impact the regulations adopted by federal and
state agencies far into the future. Focusing on climate change and the social cost of carbon as an example, this session will discuss
the centrality of economics in setting environmental policy in a wide range of forums.

Humane Risk Assessment and the Art of Solution-Focused Thinking [Faculty Room]
Adam Finkel Fellow and Executive Director,
Penn Program on Regulation, University of Pennsylvania School of Law
Jason A Schwartz Legal Fellow, Policy Integrity

This session will provide an introduction to the science of risk analysis, and discuss how it affects policy-making on a range of
environmental and public health issues, particularly workplace health. Challenges within risk-analysis, and how risk-analysis is
sometimes misapplied to justify weak regulatory approaches, will also be discussed.

11:30 am–12:50 pm Session 2: Breakout—New Policy Arenas

Crime and Punishment: The Costs and Benefits of Criminal Justice Policy [Lipton Hall]
Rachel Barkow Faculty Director, Center on the Administration of Criminal Law
Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Inimai M. Chettiar Policy Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
Sara Watson Director, Partnership for America's Economic Success
Interim Director, Cost-Benefit Analysis Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts

This session will discuss how cost-benefit analysis can be applied to criminal justice policy. It will focus on several state-level efforts
to use cost-benefit analysis to rationalize sentencing and incarceration policy. More generally, the session will explore the
challenges of applying an economic framework to a policy area normally focused on rights and freedoms.

Looking for Externalities in Unexpected Places: How Economics Affects Internet Policy [Faculty Room]
Brett M. Frischmann Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law
J. Scott Holladay Economics Fellow, Policy Integrity
Joel Kelsey Political Advisor, Free Press

The Internet creates billions of dollars in free value for the American public. This session will examine the economic consequences
of smart Internet policy, focusing mainly on the proposed federal net neutrality rule. The special economics of networks, the
positive benefits created by content, and the role of the private sector in funding broadband access will be discussed.

12:50 pm–1:30 pm Lunch (provided) [Lipton Hall]

1:30 pm–2:50 pm Keynote Address: Sally Katzen

[Lipton Hall] Visiting Professor, NYU Law
Former OIRA Administrator

3:00 pm–4:00 pm Session 3: Panel Discussion—Regulation in a Hyper-Partisan Era [Lipton Hall]

Moderator: Richard L. Revesz, Dean, NYU Law
Don Elliott Partner, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, LLP
Jonathan Cannon Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Daniel Cole Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis

4:10 pm–5:30 pm Session 4: Breakout—Tactics for Incorporating Economics into Practice

Winning with Cost-Benefit Analysis in Advocacy [Lipton Hall]

Inimai M. Chettiar Policy Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
Jennifer Rosenberg Legal Fellow, Policy Integrity

This session is for practitioners new to cost-benefit analysis and the federal regulatory process. It will identify key access points in
the federal administrative process where advocacy groups can use cost-benefit analysis, and will discuss how cost-benefit analysis
can be relevant during the course of litigation, especially as it relates to “arbitrary or capricious” review under the Administrative
Procedure Act.

The Politics of Using Cost-Benefit and Public Health Analysis [Faculty Room]
Kevin Cromar Public Health Associate, Policy Integrity
Jason A Schwartz Legal Fellow, Policy Integrity

New York City’s air is polluted by soot from home heating oil: Policy Integrity helped the City analyze the health impacts, and
worked in coalition with the Environmental Defense Fund and others to petition the Mayor and the City Council for policy
changes. This session will discuss how to partner with government agencies to develop a health and economic model to study a
problem, and how to meaningfully and effectively incorporate public health and economic analysis into advocacy efforts before
regulatory and political bodies.

5:30 pm–6:30 pm Cocktail Reception Commemorating Policy Integrity’s Second Anniversary