ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the various costs that are incurred in the process of government regulation. By raising the public information level, it is hoped that governmental decision-making in this important area can become a more balanced process, giving equal weight to the costs and other disadvantages as well as the benefits and other advantages of proposed actions. The new types of governmental regulation of business are not limited to the traditional regulatory agencies, such as the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Civil Aeronautics Board, and the Federal Communications Commission. The initial and direct effects of government regulation can be measured by the budgets of the regulatory agencies themselves. These governmental outlays indicate the costs of regulation which are borne by the taxpayers. Government regulation, often unwittingly, tends to hit small business disproportionately hard. In the case of the traditional one-industry type of government regulation a greater role should be given to the competitive process and to market forces.
