More than a thousand states and sub-states (jointly called “jurisdictions”) today develop and adopt laws. Considering several hundred policy fields exist that could be supported by laws, there is immeasurable potential for law reform to improve policy outcomes. If we were to make a matrix listing horizontally all the thousand plus jurisdictions adopting laws and vertically, the several hundred policy fields and insert all existing laws into that matrix, by far most of the fields in this matrix would be empty. The fabric of laws is thus very incomplete, including for important policies like the prevention of pandemics. In addition, most of the laws that exist are themselves incomplete, missing important possibilities to pursue their policy goals. This double incompleteness (of the fabric of laws and of the individual laws) hampers policies and creates wide margins for arbitrary decisions, and in some cases corruption. The Regulatory Institute has taken a step to address this double incompleteness by establishing the Model Laws Library and by developing our own model laws. Continue reading The Model Laws Library →