Description:The authors of this primer believe that the current approach to federal regulation urgently needs repair. Not only are current expenditures mandated by regulation large, but a substantial share of those expenditures is ineffective. As a result, more intelligent policies could achieve the same social goals at much less cost or more ambitious goals at the same cost. Federal regulation has grown dramatically in recent decades, whether considered absolutely, as a relative share of the U.S. economy, or as a relative share of the output of the federal government.