Deciding When Regulation Cost Too Much

Nearly everyone agrees that government needs to regulate. How much to regulate is the question. Reason Magazine looks at several current regulatory issues concludes that the regulatory pendulum "has swung too far."

1 minute read

January 4, 2012, 10:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Everyone also can agree that if an environmental rule can prevent 1 million birth defects at a cost of only one dollar, then the regulation merits adoption – and if a regulation would prevent only one birth defect at a cost of $100 trillion, then it does not. In the real world regulations fall within narrower parameters. And nobody knows for certain precisely how much misery a proposed regulation might prevent, or how much it might cost. Hence the bickering" writes author A. Barton Hinkle.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 in Reason Magazine

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