Document Type

Working Paper

Date

2006

Keywords

Lochner era, Lochnerism, regulatory reform, Cost-benefit analysis, environmental law, natural law, judicial activism

Language

English

Disciplines

Law

Description/Abstract

This article explores the question of whether contemporary regulatory reformers' attitudes toward government regulation have anything in common with those of the Lochner-era Court. It finds that both groups tend to favor value-neutral law guided by cost-benefit analysis over legislative value choices. Their skepticism toward redistributive legislation reflects shared beliefs that regulation often proves counterproductive in terms of its own objectives, fails demanding tests for rationality, and violates the natural order. This parallelism raises fresh questions about claims of neutrality and heightened rationality that serve as important justifications for modern regulatory reform.

Source

Metadata from SSRN

Included in

Law Commons

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