New Directions for Digital Government Research

Information technology holds the potential for improving the process by which government makes reg-ulatory decisions affecting vital aspects of society and the economy. This article charts new directions for research on the application of information technology to regulatory policy making. Drawing on the deliberations from two recent workshops organized by Harvard University’s Regulatory Policy Pro-gram, the article highlights avenues for expanding the objectives of digital government research, as well as contributing knowledge to decision makers who seek to improve the responsiveness, efficiency, and manageability of regulatory policy making. Effective innovations in applying information tech-nology to regulatory policy will need to take into account both the capabilities of new information tech-nologies and the institutional design of the federal regulatory process. By integrating perspectives fro