Public policy almost always seeks to change the behaviour of one or more target populations who are ostensibly linked to the problems the policy is seeking to address. This paper argues that statutory designers and agency officials almost always have a choice from among several potenial target groups, and that institutional factors often influence them to make inappropriate choices. Statutory designers, who it is assumed are sensitive to electoral conditions, will tend to oversubscribe some policies by identifying too many targets, including some who are not linked to policy objectives at all. Under other conditions, they will undersubscribe excluding some target groups who would contribute considerably to a