IT is too soon, perhaps too late, to be confident that the currently fashionable criticism of regulation will result in reform. If reform does materialize, there can be no doubt that Stigler's work will have had an impact on policy. However, should reform fail, Stigler will have assessed correctly the minuscule role of academicians in political affairs, his theory of regulation being partly an explanation of why academic notions of the general interest will seldom prevail over the political power of the special interests. Either way he is a winner!