This volume is one in a series commissioned by the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies to contribute to the continuing debate over regulatory reform. The series will address several fundamental issues in regulation, including the design of effective reforms, the impact of proposed reforms on the public, and the political and institutional forces that affect reform.

Many forms of regulation have grown dramatically in recent decades—especially in the areas of environment, health, and safety. Moreover, expenditures in those areas are likely to continue to grow faster than the rate of government spending. Yet, the economic impact of regulation...

Four distinct periods dominate the recent history of product liability law in the United States. First, the two postwar decades (1950–70) were relatively uneventful, as policymakers focused on health and education and attempts to eradicate broad social problems such as racial discrimination and poverty. Three notable exceptions during this period presaged the regulatory movement of the following decade. These were the amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which increased the stringency of the approval process for new drugs; the first product warnings related to the health hazards of smoking, issued by the U.S. Surgeon General’s office...