艾德·赫尔斯 (Ed Hirs) 在休斯顿大学讲授能源经济学，他也是该校人文与社会科学学院的能源研究员。

福特政府时期，打破监管俘获和放松市场管制成为国家优先事项。共和党和民主党的后续政府继续取得进展，但自本世纪初以来，由于信息被隐瞒，联邦和州一级的监管对企业和消费者来说成本更高。能源市场尤其如此。

法规的目的是为公共和私人群体提供保障，以维护公众利益。这些法规通过限制一方对另一方实施不对称控制（例如雇主对雇员、工会对制造商、污染者对社会）来创造公平的竞争环境。

Ed Hirs lectures on energy economics at the University of Houston, where he is an Energy Fellow in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

Breaking regulatory capture and deregulating markets became a national priority during the Ford administration. Progress continued during succeeding administrations, both Republican and Democrat, but since the turn of the century, the regulation at the federal and state levels has become more costly for businesses and consumers alike as information is withheld. This is especially true of energy markets.

The purpose of regulations is to provide safeguards for public and private constituencies in the public interest. These regulations are used to level the playing field by limiting the exercise of asymmetric control by one party over another, such as employer over employee, or union over manufacturer, or polluter over society.