Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T14:39:31.973Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Agency rulemaking in a separation of powers system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2017

Rachel Augustine Potter  and
Charles R. Shipan
Rachel Augustine Potter
Affiliation:
Department of Politics, University of Virginia, USA E-mail: [email protected]
Charles R. Shipan
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, USA E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Rulemaking gives agencies significant power to change public policy, but agencies do not exercise this power in a vacuum. The separation of powers system practically guarantees that, at times, agencies will be pushed and pulled in different directions by Congress and the president. We argue that these forces critically affect the volume of rules produced by an agency. We develop an account of agency rulemaking in light of these factors and test our hypotheses on a data set of agency rules from 1995 to 2007. Our results show that even after accounting for factors specific to each agency, agencies do, in fact, adjust the quantity of rules they produce in response to separation of powers oversight. Further analysis shows that the president’s influence is limited to those agencies that he has made a priority.

Keywords

agencybureaucracyrulemakingseparation of powers
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 89 - 113
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acs, A. and Cameron, C. M. (2013) Does White House Regulatory Review Produce a Chilling Effect and “OIRA Avoidance” in the Agencies? Presidential Studies Quarterly 43(3): 443–467.Google Scholar
Adolph, C. (2013) Bankers, Bureaucrats, and Central Bank Politics: The Myth of Neutrality. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Allison, P. D. and Waterman, R. P. (2002) Fixed-Effects Negative Binomial Regression Models. Sociological Methodology 32(1): 247–265.Google Scholar
Anonymous (2011) OIRA Avoidance. Harvard Law Review 124(4): 994–1015.Google Scholar
Balla, S. J. (1998) Administrative Procedures and Political Control of the Bureaucracy. American Political Science Review 92(3): 663–673.Google Scholar
Bertelli, A. M. (2016) Bureaucratic Autonomy in the U.S. Separation of Powers: Evidence from Cabinet Departments. Public Organization Review 16(1): 139–151.Google Scholar
Bolton, A., Potter, R. A. and Thrower, S. (2016) Organizational Capacity, Regulatory Review, and the Limits of Political Control. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 32(2): 242–271.Google Scholar
Boushey, G. T. and McGrath, R. J. (2015) The Gift of Gridlock: Divided Government, Bureaucratic Autonomy, and the Politics of Rulemaking in the American States. Unpublished Manuscript, Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.Google Scholar
Boushey, G. T. and McGrath, R. J. (2017) Experts, Amateurs, and the Politics of Delegation in the American States. Journal of Public Administration, Research, and Theory 27(1): 85–103.Google Scholar
Canes-Wrone, B. (2003) Bureaucratic Decisions and the Composition of the Lower Courts. American Journal of Political Science 47(2): 205–214.Google Scholar
Carpenter, D. P. (2001) The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Carter, D. B. and Signorino, C. S. (2010) Back to the Future: Modeling Time Dependence in Binary Data. Political Analysis 18(3): 271–292.Google Scholar
Clinton, J. and Lewis, D. E. (2007) Expert Opinion, Agency Characteristics, and Agency Preferences. Political Analysis 16(1): 3–20.Google Scholar
Clinton, J. D., Lewis, D. E. and Selin, J. L. (2014) Influencing the Bureaucracy: The Irony of Congressional Oversight. American Journal of Political Science 58(2): 387–401.Google Scholar
Croley, S. (2003) White House Review of Agency Rulemaking: An Empirical Investigation. University of Chicago Law Review 70(3): 821–885.Google Scholar
Devins, N. and Lewis, D. E. (2008) Not-So Independent Agencies: Party Polarization and the Limits of Institutional Design. Boston University Law Review 88: 459–498.Google Scholar
Dewatripont, M., Jewitt, I. and Tirole, J. (1999a) The Economics of Career Concerns, Part I: Comparing Information Structures. The Review of Economic Studies 66(1): 183–198.Google Scholar
Dewatripont, M., Jewitt, I. and Tirole, J. (1999b) The Economics of Career Concerns, Part II: Application to Missions and Accountability of Government Agencies. The Review of Economic Studies 66(1): 199–217.Google Scholar
Downs, A. (1967) Inside Bureaucracy. New York: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Haeder, S. F. and Yackee, S. W. (2015) Influence and the Administrative Process: Lobbying the President’s Office of Management and Budget. American Political Science Review 109(3): 507–522.Google Scholar
Heinzerling, L. (2014) Inside EPA: A Former Insider’s Reflections on the Relationship Between the Obama EPA and the Obama White House. Pace Environmental Law Review 31(1): 325–369.Google Scholar
Hume, R. J. (2009) How Courts Impact Federal Administrative Behavior. New York: Routledge Press.Google Scholar
Hurley, P., Brady, D. and Cooper, J. (1977) Measuring Legislative Potential for Policy Change. Legislative Studies Quarterly 2(4): 385–398.Google Scholar
Kaiser, F. M. (1980) Congressional Action to Overturn Agency Rules: Alternatives to the “Legislative Veto”. Administrative Law Review 32(4): 667–711.Google Scholar
Kerwin, C. M. and Furlong, S. R. (2011) Rulemaking, 4th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Knott, J. and Miller, G. J. (1987) Reforming Bureaucracy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
LaRocca, R. T. (2006) The Presidential Agenda. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
MacDonald, J. A. (2010) Limitation Riders and Congressional Influence Over Bureaucratic Policy Decisions. American Political Science Review 104(4): 766–782.Google Scholar
MacDonald, J. A. and McGrath, R. J. (2016) A Race for the Regs: Unified Government, Statutory Deadlines, and Federal Agency Rulemaking. Unpublished Manuscript, Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.Google Scholar
Marvel, J. D. and McGrath, R. J. (2016) Congress as Manager: Oversight Hearings and Agency Morale. Journal of Public Policy 36(3): 489–520.Google Scholar
Mashaw, J. L. (1994) Improving the Environment of Agency Rulemaking: An Essay on Management, Games, and Accountability. Law and Contemporary Problems 57(2): 185–257.Google Scholar
Meier, K. J. (2000) Politics and the Bureaucracy: Policymaking in the Fourth Branch of Government, 4th ed. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Publishers Inc.Google Scholar
Neustadt, R. (1960) Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
O’Connell, A. J. (2008) Political Cycles of Rule An Empirical Portrait of the Modern Administrative State. Virginia Law Review 94(4): 889–986.Google Scholar
O’Connell, A. J. (2011) Agency Rulemaking and Political Transitions. Northwestern Law Review 105(2): 471–534.Google Scholar
Olson, M. K. (1996) Substitution in Regulatory Agencies: FDA Enforcement Alternatives. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 12(2): 376–407.Google Scholar
Potter, R. A. (2017) Slow-Rolling, Fast-Tracking, and the Pace of Bureaucratic Decisions in Rulemaking. Journal of Politics 79(3): 841–855.Google Scholar
Shipan, C. R. (2000) The Legislative Design of Judicial Review: A Formal Analysis. Journal of Theoretical Politics 12(3): 269–304.Google Scholar
Shipan, C. R. (2004) Regulatory Regimes, Agency Actions, and the Conditional Nature of Congressional Influence. American Political Science Review 98(3): 467–480.Google Scholar
Shipan, C. R. (2005) Congress and the Bureaucracy. In Quirk P. J. and Binder S. A. (eds.), Institutions of Democracy: The Legislative Branch. New York: Oxford University Press, 432–460.Google Scholar
Skryzcki, C. (2003) The Regulators: Anonymous Power Brokers in American Politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Sunstein, C. R. (2012) The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Myths and Realities. Harvard Law Review 126(7): 1838–1879.Google Scholar
Teodoro, M. P. (2011) Bureaucratic Ambition: Careers, Motives, and the Innovative Administrator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. Q. (1989) Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Wood, B. D. and Waterman, R. W. (1993) The Dynamics of Political-Bureaucratic Adaptation. American Journal of Political Science 37(2): 497–528.Google Scholar
Yackee, J. W. and Yackee, S. W. (2009) Divided Government and U.S. Federal Rulemaking. Regulation and Governance 3(2): 128–144.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Potter and Shipan supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Potter and Shipan supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 211.1 KB