In this convocation, Dr. Vitor C. Melo—Associate Economist at the RAND Corporation and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Economics at the University of Chicago—explores how government regulations are shaped by incentives, competing stakeholder pressures, and real-world tradeoffs. Students will learn how to think clearly about who tends to benefit from regulations, who bears the costs, and why certain rules persist. The talk concludes with a timely application to Airbnb regulation, connecting policy debates to market outcomes and community impacts.