This excerpt originally appeared in The Hill on March 28, 2012.

If laws and regulations were not such crucial determinants of business success or failure, cashing in on inside information about upcoming regulatory changes would not be so lucrative. If government were not so omnipresent, the resources devoted to gaining an edge in political information could be put toward productive use. But the stakes are high. Not only can the costs of regulation affect companies’ bottom lines, but so can government subsidies or grants of regulatory monopolies.