Addressing the need for comprehensive regulatory reform: hearing before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, first session, March 26, 2009.

Americans expect federal regulation to accomplish many important things, such as protecting the country from financial fraudsters, preventing workplace injuries, preserving clean air, and deterring terrorist attacks. Regulation also requires tradeoffs--there is no such thing as a free lunch. Depending on the regulation, consumers may pay more, workers may receive less, retirement savings may grow more slowly, and Americans may have less privacy or personal freedom. In a democratic society, these tradeoffs require government regulators to carefully and completely disclose the likely effects of individual rules and of the regulatory system as a whole. In this and other ways, our regulatory system has fallen short. Congress needs to address the shortcomings of this system with comprehensive regulatory reform.

On its Surface, this book is aimed at the topical issue of regulatory reform. But underneath it strives to go beyond the topical, seeking to analyze regulation as a distinct discipline and to help teach it as a separate subject.