Thomas D. Hopkins

Thomas D. Hopkins is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he taught from 1988 to 2012. During the Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations he was on the staff of the Council on Wage and Price Stability. In 1981, as the council’s acting director, Hopkins managed the agency’s closure and the transfer of its regulatory oversight functions and staff to the Office of Management and Budget. He then served from 1981 to 1984 as deputy administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget. Hopkins also has taught at American University, the University of Maryland, and the US Business School in Prague, and from 1998 to 2005 served as dean of Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Business. He received his PhD in economics from Yale University and his BA from Oberlin College.

Publications & Appearances

The Council on Wage and Price Stability: A Retrospective

Applying benefit-cost analysis in the White House regulatory oversight process served as a basic mission of the Council on Wage and Price Stability (CWPS) during its seven-year lifespan (1974–1981). This paper reviews that CWPS experience, which involved filing comments in over 300 proceedings at more than 25 federal regulatory agencies. The paper draws on those CWPS public comments (filings), identifying persistent and pervasive deficiencies in the economic analysis regulators then and now often use as support for new regulation. CWPS filings fostered greater acceptance of benefit-cost analysis in regulatory decisions; such analysis is now required by executive order.

The Council on Wage and Price Stability: A Retrospective

Applying benefit-cost analysis in the White House regulatory oversight process served as a basic mission of the Council on Wage and Price Stability (CWPS) during its seven-year lifespan (1974–1981). This paper reviews that CWPS experience, which involved filing comments in over 300 proceedings at more than 25 federal regulatory agencies.

The Legacy of the Council on Wage and Price Stability

Applying benefit-cost analysis in the White House regulatory oversight process served as a basic mission of the Council on Wage and Price Stability (CWPS) during its seven-year lifespan (1974–1981). This paper reviews that CWPS experience, which involved filing comments in over 300 proceedings at more than 25 federal regulatory agencies.