Testing Regulatory Consistency

Abstract

We undertake an analysis of regulatory consistency using a database of publicly available regulatory decisions in Australia. We propose a simple exploratory model which allows us to test for regulatory consistency across jurisdictions and industries without detailed knowledge of the regulatory process. We compare two measures using our approach--the weighted average cost of capital and the proportion of firms’ revenue requirement claims disallowed by the regulator. We advocate use of the second measure, but our empirical results may be interpreted as indicating that a range of measures ought to be considered when assessing regulatory consistency.