May 2011: Behavioral and Institutional Regulation Workshop at Cornell University

Following the passage of the Affordable Care Act in Spring 2010 and building on two cross-disciplinary workshops held since 2009, the Behavioral and Institutional Regulation working group met in April to examine new regulatory approaches to the health-insurance market. Led by Annelise Riles (Cornell University Law School, Anthropology) and Tom Baker (University of Pennsylvania Law School), the event brought together approximately 20 scholars and policymakers from a variety of academic institutions and regulatory bodies.  Participants explored the ways in which relevant behavioral research from psychology and economics might inform how new health regulatory structures are designed, aiming to make regulation more empirically rooted, more engaged with the full range of theories of market activity and human behavior, and more cognizant of the nature of insurance markets. Discussion ranged from specific concerns regarding how the new online state health exchanges for selling insurance should be designed to questions of how to build public trust in traditionally marginalized communities for new regulatory structures. At previous meetings, the group has focused on questions of risk, insurance, and consumer financial products.