This course provides an introduction to the scope and nature of government regulation in the United States. It examines the constitutional restraints on regulatory power and reviews the economic and other justifications for regulation (i.e., natural monopoly, destructive competition, allocation of scarce resources, assurance of quality or competence, consideration of otherwise ignored social costs, and wealth redistribution). Given the nature of contemporary efforts to reform the regulatory state, emphasis is placed throughout the course on the deregulation of traditionally regulated sectors of the economy. This course requires a qualifying course paper that fulfills one half of the upper-level writing requirement. Refer to Academic Rule X — Writing Requirement and Directed Research.