The sleepy Dutch town of Drachten is not an obvious place to start in the debate on the burden of regulation in the financial markets. But its pioneering attitude to managing traffic is a useful signpost for the direction of regulation.
Drachten was one of the first towns in Europe to take a radical approach to the problem of too many cars driving too fast and knocking over too many pedestrians. Instead of adding more signposts, traffic lights or road markings â more regulations â it got rid of them all.
