Witness the debate over the true cost of Canada s new gun registration law.
Sceptics abound inside government as well as outside.
Ministry executives dread having to defend cost estimates they themselves barely understand. Ministers grow weary of fending off opposition and media queries which frequently raise unanticipated concerns. In consequence, pressure builds for official cost estimates to possess ever higher levels of accuracy and verifiability. It is surely a rite of passage for the government policy analyst to have to stay late on a Friday evening, on his or her spouse s birthday, to provide a detailed justification of some statistic. Despite doubts, governments should continue the search for improved cost analysis.