Regulation
Thursday, May 25, 2017

Francesc Trillas

Autonomous University of Barcelona

Francesc Trillas

Behavioral Regulatory Agencies

Abstract

The lecture will address how the commitment problem in regulation, and the potential for a strategic delegation solution, is affected by the consideration of bounded rationality by agents that participate in the regulatory interaction. Regulators and other agents have endogenous preferences. Non-optimizing behavior, expert biases (and related de-biasing strategies), and a concern for fairness and process also modify the traditional regulatory game. As a result, on the one hand independent regulators are seen as part of a potentially more robust regulatory system, and on the other hand their contribution to this system can be based on a wider range of instruments. Potential ideas for future research will be explored.