Institute for Policy Integrity

Institute for Policy Integrity
Name	Institute for Policy Integrity
Formation	2008
Founder	New York University School of Law
Location	New York City
Focus	Public policy, regulatory analysis, economics, law
Leader title	Director
Leader name	Richard Revesz
Parent organization	New York University School of Law

Contents

Institute for Policy Integrity is a legal and economic policy center based at New York University School of Law that engages in research, litigation, and advocacy on regulatory policy. The organization works at the intersection of administrative law, cost-benefit analysis, and energy and environmental regulation, collaborating with scholars associated with Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Yale Law School, Stanford Law School, and University of Chicago Law School. Its staff and affiliates have participated in proceedings before the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, United States Environmental Protection Agency, and numerous state agencies.

History

The institute's mission emphasizes improving decisionmaking in administrative agencies through economic evidence and legal argument, drawing on methodologies from Cost–benefit analysis, Welfare economics, Environmental economics, and Law and economics. Activities include filing amicus briefs in cases argued before the United States Supreme Court, submitting public comments to agencies like the United States Environmental Protection Agency, providing expert testimony to committees such as the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and teaching clinics in partnership with New York University. The organization maintains collaborations with research centers at Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, Duke University, Michigan State University, and Carnegie Mellon University.

The institute focuses on multiple regulatory domains including Climate change policy, Air pollution, Energy policy, Transportation policy, Water quality regulation, and Health and safety regulation. It has worked on rulemakings associated with greenhouse gas emissions under statutes such as the Clean Air Act and contributed analysis relevant to international agreements like the Paris Agreement. Analysts at the institute publish on topics tied to agencies including the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the Food and Drug Administration.

The institute regularly participates in litigation through amicus briefs and filings in cases before tribunals such as the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and state supreme courts like the New York Court of Appeals. Notable areas of litigation involve statutory interpretation under precedents including Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. and Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, contested rulemakings like the Clean Power Plan and subsequent replacement rules, and challenges to cost-benefit methodologies related to the Social Cost of Carbon. The institute has appeared alongside parties from organizations including Sierra Club, American Petroleum Institute, State of California, and various state attorney generals.

The institute produces reports, working papers, and peer-reviewed articles in collaboration with scholars affiliated with Harvard Kennedy School, Yale School of the Environment, Princeton University, Rutgers University, University of Michigan, and Georgetown University. Its publications address valuation techniques such as the Value of a Statistical Life, discounting in intertemporal policy analysis tied to work by William Nordhaus and Nicholas Stern, and regulatory impact assessments used by agencies like the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and Budget. The institute also issues litigation briefs, model comments for rulemakings, and policy memos cited in decisions by courts including panels of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Affiliated with New York University School of Law, the institute receives support from foundations and donors historically including entities such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and private philanthropic donors. It operates a legal clinic model integrating faculty, fellows, and student researchers, with governance connected to NYU's faculty and administrative structures. Staff often move between academic appointments at institutions like Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Stanford Law School, and public service positions in the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Justice.

Critics from think tanks such as American Enterprise Institute and commentators associated with Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute have challenged the institute's approaches to cost-benefit analysis and its recommendations on regulatory valuation techniques. Debates have involved methodological disputes over the Social Cost of Carbon, discount rates advocated by scholars like William Nordhaus and Nicholas Stern, and the role of economists in administrative adjudication highlighted in litigation invoking Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.. Other controversies have centered on funding transparency and perceived alignment with advocacy groups including Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club, as raised in public commentary from state officials and representatives on committees such as the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Category:Legal advocacy organizations based in the United States