Our analysis of more than 52,000 comments submitted during a notice-and-comment period reveal that when it comes to public participation, we have a two-tiered regulatory system. In other words, there is a significant gap between sophisticated “repeat players” and individuals participating directly or mediated only through smaller, community-based organizations. In this regard, these findings confirm the intuitions of academics and policymakers who are increasingly focused on making the regulatory system more inclusive.
Visit our project page, Bridging the Participation Gap, for interactive figures and other details about our analysis.
