Efforts to limit the commercial use of data on physician prescribing could have broad implications for regulatory programs that promote drug safety. At issue are a series of laws pursued by state legislators that would restrict access to information on the prescriptions written by individual doctors.

The most sweeping reforms since 1997 are planned this year for theFDAin order to address the concern that it is not protecting the public from drugs' risks as effectively as it might.

Politicians have frequently directed harsh rhetoric toward particular corporate taxpayers that earn high profits. At times, this rhetoric has been accompanied by policy proposals that single out a narrow set of profitable taxpayers for disparate treatment. Perhaps the most notable example is the war against Big Oil.

How the Food and Drug Administration responds to criticism of its drug safety process will determine whether drug safety actually improves.

Fair value accounting has been the principal cause of an unprecedented decline in asset values and an unprecedented rise in instability among financial institutions.

"Principles-based" regulation will face challenges in the United States from American culture, the plaintiffs bar, converging accounting standards, and a legitimate case for "rules-based" regulation.

The administration's proposal for regulating the credit default swaps market is unlikely to reduce systemic risk, and may in fact increase it.

The expansion of risk-management tools is an imprecise solution to the wrong problem.