ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the formation, application, effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory tools. Broadly, regulation, or the government's "stick", can be grouped as general or specific. The latter can be further divided as industry-specific, product-specific, or consumer-specific. These specific-purpose regulations can be subdivided into regulations with economic or social objectives. The overall thrust of these types of regulation is to ensure market stability and maintenance of appropriate control in certain areas of the economy. Regulatory programs typically involve multiple regulations, and within such programs, other instruments might also be used. The requirements of the regulatory policy to determine the relevance, success and cost-effectiveness of existing regulatory programs are the same as the requirements of the evaluation policy. To improve the usefulness of policy evaluation it is important that it be based on policy instruments and implemented as a continuous process.
