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This fall, Stephen Discepola ’07 (Millville, N.J.) is training fellow students to use a system he developed to estimate the cost of complying with state regulations. Discepola is breaking new ground in a project that has never before been undertaken.
Over the summer, Discepola collaborated with Mark Crain, Simon Professor of Political Economy and chair of Policy Studies, through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, in which students conduct research with faculty while earning a stipend. The program has helped to make Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the more than 160 students who participate each year share their work through articles in academic journals and/or conference presentations.
Discepola and Crain worked together to create a virtual regulatory lab to analyze all state regulations. Using Westlaw’s legal and regulatory database, they developed a system that transforms raw data into a format compatible with qualitative content analysis software.
They are the first researchers to approach state regulations from this angle. Discepola, a double major in economics & business and history, plans to continue work on what will be a three-year project until he graduates this spring.
“Because of the magnitude of the task, no one knows the total costs of complying with state regulations,” Crain says. “We know these costs are significant, but a precise estimate has not been performed. This means our findings will be a major contribution to both academic and public policy discussions.”
For Discepola, who always has been intrigued by public policy, the research is not only allowing him to pursue his interests, but also providing him with valuable project management skills. He is training and coaching Lafayette students who joined the EXCEL research this fall and 20 more students in Crain’s course on regulation to use his system.
“I even developed some tutorial modules so students in the future can get started on the process on their own,” explains Discepola. “My next task is to work with a team of EXCEL students to develop the accounting system that stores compliance costs and allows us to aggregate them in various ways – for example, by industrial sector or by state and region. I am also monitoring the progress of my fellow student researchers to refine and improve the process.”
Other students who have worked on the project in the past or who joined the project this semester include economics and business graduate Stephen Caruso ’06, government & law and economics & business graduate Brandon Benjamin ’06, civil engineering major Jennifer Namias ’08 (Boxborough, Mass.), economics & business and Spanish double major Heather Smith ’07 (Manasquan, N.J.), economics & business and mathematics double major Allison Vail ’08 (Bethlehem, Pa.), mathematics-economics major David Fishman ’07(Pittsford, N.Y.), and economics & business and mathematics double major Selven Veeraragoo ’08 (Curepipe, Mauritius).
Crain is impressed with Discepola’s progress on the complicated project and his leadership skills in bringing new students into the research.
“His success in thinking through and managing this massive initiative shows outstanding ability and talent,” Crain says. “Stephen has a rare combination of skills and a work ethic second to none.”
Because the team is analyzing hundreds of thousands of pages of state administrative codes, Discepola is optimistic about the research’s impact on a variety of levels.
“First, no one has ever estimated the total costs of state regulations, so our findings will be a major contribution to the academic literature,” he explains. “A number of journals should be interested in this estimate and the estimation procedure. A related issue is the impact of state regulatory costs on state economic activity, which might form the basis for a second article. Third, the results should offer policymakers at the state level useful benchmarks and a basis to compare their regulatory burden to that in other states.”
Discepola adds that Crain is an excellent mentor, who allows students to exercise a great degree of control over the project.
“To say the least, it has been a pleasure to work with Professor Crain,” he says. “Not only is he incredibly knowledgeable, but he also values my input. I truly feel that everything I do is integral to the success of this undertaking.”
Discepola also is completing honors thesis research this year on the effects of state regulations on California’s health care industry.
Discepola is vice president of Tennis Club and a member of Investment Club, Community of Scholars, and Delta Upsilon fraternity. A member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international honor society for economics, he is a Charles A. Dana Scholar. He also volunteers with the Boys and Girls Club through the Landis Community Outreach Center.
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Forty students were accepted to present their research at this year’s conference.