A rule individuals or firms are obliged to follow; or the procedure for deciding and enforcing such rules. Modern societies abound in regulations. These may be designed to promote public health and safety: for example, rules on food hygiene and the coding of electrical wiring. They may be designed to promote competition and prevent unfair trading practices: for example, Monopolies and Mergers Commission and Monopolies and Mergers Commission are controlled in most societies, and insider dealing is forbidden in many countries. Regulations may be set and enforced by government bodies, or by quasi-autonomous non-government organization (quangos). In the last resort regulation relies on legal sanctions, but the largest proportion of effective regulation is done by the regulators setting standards which most respectable organizations then try to comply with as a matter of self-discipline.

See also:

bank regulation, and self-regulation

• domestic credit expansion
• domestic distortions
• domestic product
• domestic rates
• dominant firm
• dominant strategy
• domino effect
• dotcom company
• double counting
• double entry bookkeeping
• double taxation
• double taxation agreement
• Douglas
• Dow Jones Industrial Average
• down payment
• downside risk
• downstream
• downward-sloping demand curve
• draft, banker's
• drag, fiscal
• drawback, customs
• drawing rights
• dual economy
• duality
• dummy variable