When most people think of regulation—which is generally as little as possible—they think of the Internal Revenue Code or maybe one of those 1,000+ page drafts of the health care reform bill that Fox News made fun of. Stuff only career bureaucrats, well-paid lobbyists and academics with obsessive-compulsive disorder could love.
We’re not gluttons for punishment; you won’t find us perusing the Federal Register over our morning corn flakes. But we do know that regulation is critically important, and getting more important by the day. For one thing, it lies at the core of the policy issues sure to dominate politics and economics in coming decades—think climate change, energy, telecommunications, water, pensions, antitrust, international trade, banking, and, of course, health care. For another, politicians are becoming more aware that regulation can do what has traditionally been done with government spending and taxation. And in an era of trillion-dollar budget deficits (not to mention easily mobilized opposition to taxes), government at every level will increasingly lean on rules and mandates where fiscal incentives once reigned.
That’s where regulation2point0 fits in. We’re aiming to build a site that aggregates the latest working papers, Congressional and agency testimony, web and print media commentary and the like on regulation, along with blogs by us and by guest contributors. In a phrase: one-stop browsing on the key regulatory issues of the day for both professionals and the interested public.
Want to help? Tell us about material you think belongs on the site—including (don’t be shy) your own contributions to the field.
