Program Mission
The Regulatory Policy Program serves as a catalyst and clearinghouse for the study of regulation across Harvard University. The program's objectives are to cross-pollinate research, spark new lines of inquiry, and increase the connection between theory and practice. Through seminars and symposia, working papers, and new media, RPP explores themes that cut across regulation in its various domains: market failures and the public policy case for government regulation; the efficacy and efficiency of various regulatory instruments; and the most effective ways to foster transparent and participatory regulatory processes.
Primary Focus
RPP's research aims to improve global society and the economy by understanding the impacts of regulation and improving the design and implementation of regulatory strategies. RPP synthesizes research from across a range of specific policy domains — from financial regulation to safety and health regulation, information technology to natural resources policy — in order to make broader generalizations and permit cross-fertilization across policy domains and academic disciplines. Relying on the tools of economics, law, political science, and other policy disciplines, RPP faculty aim to discover when regulation works and what kind of regulatory instruments and institutions are best for the economy and society in an increasingly globalized world. The program seeks to develop a better understanding of the path the field of regulation has taken over the past several decades and, most significantly, where it is headed in the new century.
Contact
Regulatory Policy Program
Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
E-mail: scott_leland@hks.harvard.edu