The effectiveness of regulatory disclosure policies

Regulatory transparency—mandatory disclosure of information by private or public institutions with a regulatory intent—has become an important frontier of government innovation. This paper assesses the effectiveness of such transparency systems by examining the design and impact of financial disclosure, nutritional labeling, workplace hazard communication, and five other diverse systems in the United States. We argue that transparency policies are effective only when the information they produce becomes “embedded” in the everyday decision‐making routines of information users and information disclosers. This double‐sided embeddedness is the most important condition for transparency systems' effectiveness. Based on detailed case analyses, we evaluate the user and discloser embeddedness of the eight major transparency policies. We then draw on a comprehensive inventory of prior studies of regulatory effectiveness to assess whether predictions about effectiveness based on characteristics of embeddedness are consistent with those evaluations. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

HIGHWAY INTERMODAL FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION: A Policy and Administration Challenge for the New Millennium

This article provides an overview of factors influencing highway intermodal freight transportation planning and policy in the United States. The article provides examples of state and local initiatives to manage or balance the increasing highway transportation of freight with decreasing system capacity. It also identifies important trends in commerce affecting intermodal freight generation. It concludes with a discussion of issues facing intermodal freight transportation planning and policy making at the millennium.