The rising tide of government regulation in most countries is provoking a reconsideration of the extent to which the state should lay down rules for others. Self-regulation and other forms of voluntary rule-setting are being examined as substitutes for regulation by government. Readings 52 begins with a paper by John Blundell and Colin Robinson which analyses the forces behind government regulation, its shortcomings and the scope for voluntary regulation. Seven papers by distinguished commentators on regulation then examine Blundell and Robinson's conclusions.