'Modesty is desirable in one’s approach to regulation'

Helpful insights here from Michael McShane

Stephen Breyer’s book Regulation and its Reform was published in 1982, more than a decade before Breyer would become a Supreme Court Justice, and was called at the time the “bible of regulatory reform.” ...

The key insights of Regulation and Its Reform are the questions it pushes policymakers to ask before drafting and imposing regulations. What is the problem we are trying to solve? Is regulation the best tool to solve it? Will the cost of regulations exceed their benefits?

Regulations work best with they are broad, simple, and clear. They are bad at fine-tuning and can become onerous very quickly.