Regulation and Sarbanes-Oxley

Many of the papers in this special issue are concerned with regulation and some with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). In this commentary I will begin by summarizing the arguments for regulation that have been made in the literature.1 I will then consider whether these arguments apply to SOX. I will suggest that, rather than being based on sound principles, regulation often seems to be a consequence of the public’s need for action in response to a crisis, and that this was the case with SOX .I will argue that the recent financial meltdown provides another example of the same phenomenon.