Towards a Meta Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Case of Brexit
GAICIL Insights
Brexit generated many cost-benefit estimates but no aggregated view. Written at the halfway point of the 2017-2019 negotiations, the article asks whether a meta cost-benefit analysis, one that combines existing studies, is scientifically possible, and what its limits are.
The method question is general: large regulatory shifts, including those now proposed for AI, are often judged on a patchwork of studies. The article shows both the value and the inherent limits of combining them.
Abstract
Doubtless Brexit is one of the most important regulatory challenges for an entire country since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Equally important are the implications, in terms of costs and benefits, of this democratic decision for the UK’s economy and for its regulatory environment. So far, some cost-benefit analyses have attempted to measure the post-Brexit situation. Few studies have proposed a ‘meta cost-benefit analysis’, which would encompass current studies into one aggregated study. No study has provided for a meta cost-benefit analysis as the Brexit negotiations unfold and which provides for a comprehensive discussion of the regulatory issues at stake. This article intends to fill this gap. The originality of this article lies in both its content and its timing. The content is original because it discusses the scientific possibility of a meta cost-benefit analysis of Brexit together with the inherent limits associated with such an endeavour. The timing is appropriate as we are in the critical halfway point of the two-year negotiation period (2017-2019) during which the EU and the UK must secure the relevant deals to ensure a smooth and frictionless Brexit for both sides of the Channel.1
Takeaway
“The content is original because it discusses the scientific possibility of a meta cost-benefit analysis of Brexit together with the inherent limits associated with such an endeavour.”
Quoted verbatim from the author’s abstract.
Notes
- Aurelien Portuese, Towards a Meta Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Case of Brexit, 19 Estey J. Int’l L. & Trade Pol’y 30 (2018), https://law.usask.ca/documents/research/estey-journal/Portuese19-1lay.pdf. Abstract quoted verbatim from the publisher’s PDF, https://law.usask.ca/documents/research/estey-journal/Portuese19-1lay.pdf. ↩
Cite as: Aurelien Portuese, Towards a Meta Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Case of Brexit, 19 Estey J. Int’l L. & Trade Pol’y 30 (2018), https://law.usask.ca/documents/research/estey-journal/Portuese19-1lay.pdf
Header image: Big Ben and Westminster Bridge at dusk 2017-unsplash.jpg by Pedro Carballo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
