This paper assesses the legacy of the Civil Rights Act over the past 50 years, reviewing its history, scope, and impact on wage, employment, and segregation outcomes of the Act's five protected classes. In addition to improving outcomes for protected classes, the Act launched a period of...

This article examines the political economy of preferences with respect to the environment using a new stated preference survey that presents the first benefit values for national water quality levels. The mean valuation greatly exceeds the median value, as the distribution of valuations is...

Using a new series of data on occupational fatalities compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the authors reassess value-of-life calculations based on labor market tradeoffs between fatality risks and wages. The new data are less subject to the problems of...

Since its inception, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been the target of regulatory reform proposals. OSHA has attracted this continued critical attention both because of inadequacies in the design of OSHA regulation and shortcomings in its implementation. John...

In 1974, President Ford initiated a procedure by which the regulatory policies of federal agencies were subjected to systematic oversight. This activity continued with modest success through subsequent administrations. A substantial stiffening of oversight powers under President Reagan raises...

In 1978, OSHA took a major step in attempting to promote the health of workers in the textile industry, tightening its standard on cotton dust levels in textile plants. Because the OSHA cotton dust standard was widely believed to be ineffective, it became the target of a major political debate...