Episode Details

In the popular press, regulators tend to be portrayed as either hopelessly weak or as having assumed too much power. This is a natural outcome of their lying at the centre of one of the most profound political questions going: where, in a democracy, should the correct balance lie between freedom and compulsion?

Uploaded 14-11-11

We all balk at being controlled by others, at being told what we may and may not do, but this powerful instinct exists alongside the contradictory expectation that other peoples' behaviour most certainly should be subject to control.
Regulators get caught in the middle of that contradiction. So their work is bound, now and then, to be the subject of vigorous debate and political differences of opinion. So it is all the more important to make clear what regulation is, what it should aim to achieve, and, thereby, what are the characteristics of a good regulator.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/what-makes-a-good-regulator-1

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website.
http://www.gresham.ac.uk



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