Regulation and public policy play a critical role in shaping markets, influencing behaviour and delivering social outcomes. But poorly designed or poorly understood regulation can impose unnecessary costs, distort incentives or fail to achieve its intended objectives. NineSquared helps clients understand the economic, social and distributional impacts of regulation and policy — supporting better decisions, stronger cases for change, and more effective outcomes.
NineSquared examines how regulatory impacts are distributed across households, businesses, regions and industries — helping decision-makers understand who bears the costs and who benefits
Understanding the economic impacts of regulation and policy is critical to achieving better outcomes for communities, businesses and governments. Well‑designed regulation can correct market failures, protect consumers and deliver social benefits. Poorly designed regulation, however, can impose unnecessary costs, reduce competitiveness, discourage investment or fail to achieve its intended objectives.
Robust economic analysis helps decision‑makers understand the real‑world implications of policy choices before they are implemented. It brings transparency to trade‑offs, highlights unintended consequences, and provides a defensible basis for selecting the most effective option. For industry and stakeholders, it strengthens engagement with government by grounding advocacy in evidence rather than assumption.
In an environment of fiscal constraint and increasing scrutiny, understanding regulatory impacts also supports better accountability. It helps ensure that interventions deliver value for money, are proportionate to the problem being addressed, and balance efficiency, equity and practicality. Ultimately, rigorous analysis enables regulation and policy to achieve their goals — improving outcomes for people, places and markets.
A non-technical guide to cost-benefit analysis for decision makers Decision-making is an important part of our everyday lives. Some...
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