“…The reasons underlying this phenomenon are likely to vary according to policy area and design (Harrington et al, 2000), and jurisdiction (McGarity and Ruttenberg, 2002). Evaluations of impact assessments of environmental policy, where the phenomenon has been studied in greatest depth, highlight a number of recurring causes such as the failure to anticipate incomplete implementation and compliance (Bailey et al, 2002;IVM and Ecologic, 2005;MacLeod et al, 2006) and differences in (and potentially politically convenient facts about eu regulation 729 erroneous) assumptions between ex post and ex ante assessments (IVM and Ecologic, 2005;MacLeod et al, 2006). Interestingly, they also neglect or understate the potential for business to innovate, learn and adapt in response to regulation (Hammitt, 2000;Harrington et al, 2000;Heinzerling and Ackerman, 2002;IVM and Ecologic, 2005;MacLeod et al, 2006), despite this being a fairly well-established phenomenon in the economics literature (Ambec et al, 2013;Brännlund and Lundgren, 2009).…”