In person icon Administrative Complexity and the Challenges of Policy Accumulation

Abstract

Modern democracies face an ongoing challenge of policy accumulation, where new rules and regulations are continuously added without sufficient reduction or streamlining of existing frameworks (Adam et al., 2019). While regulatory expansion can enhance governance, it often introduces complexity, administrative burdens, and inefficiencies that may weaken policy effectiveness (Kosti and Levi-Faur, 2019). This panel explores the drivers, consequences, and potential solutions to policy accumulation, with a particular focus on its administrative dimensions. The papers in this panel address key questions such as: Why do policymakers tend to favor adding new policies over simplifying or terminating existing ones? What behavioral biases drive policy accumulation? How effective are regulatory offsetting schemes (such as “one-in, one-out” rules) in reducing administrative burdens, and what are their limitations? How does regulatory overload affect governance capacity, particularly in policy fields like environmental regulation, where implementation failures and administrative strain are common? Why have long-standing efforts at legislative simplification failed? Despite repeated EU-level initiatives to streamline regulation, why does the body of legislation continue to expand? By drawing on quantitative, qualitative, and experimental approaches, this panel brings together diverse perspectives on policy accumulation as a structural governance challenge. Papers in this session offer insights into decision-making biases, administrative burdens, regulatory simplification efforts, and the implementation capacity of public administrations. Ultimately, this panel aims to contribute to the broader debate on how governments can balance regulatory growth with administrative efficiency, ensuring that policies remain effective without overwhelming bureaucracies and policy implementers.

Title	Details
Assessing the Effectiveness of Regulatory Offsetting Schemes: Lessons from the UK Experience	View Paper Details
Addition Bias among Policymakers as Driver of Policy Accumulation	View Paper Details
A brief history of the (failed) attempts to simplify EU legislation	View Paper Details
Multi-Level Governance and Administrative Overload: A Comparative Analysis of Air Quality Policy Implementation in Germany and Italy	View Paper Details
The Multitasking State: Investigating Government Activity Across Policy Sectors	View Paper Details