The effect of radiation losses in determining scaling laws of electron temperature on laser flux &Fgr; is discussed for moderateZplasmas created by lasers in the flux range 1011–1013W/cm.2Temperature scaling slower and faster than &Fgr;4/9, observed by various authors, is explained by including radiation losses in a self‐regulatory model. Results of experiments on carbon plasma produced by 1‐GW, 5‐nsec Nd: glass laser show temperature scaling &Fgr;0.25and &Fgr;0.75, and are in good agreement with the predicted behavior.