Regulation at 40

Abstract

Regulation magazine celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, which is also roughly the anniversary of the beginning of the deregulation era in federal domestic policy. This article reviews the history of the rise of federal regulation in the United States, the intellectual and political reasons for deregulation, and the subsequent expansion of federal regulation so far in the 21st century. It concludes with a discussion of what antecedents might produce a second wave of deregulation.

Keywords: regulation, deregulation, economic history, political history

JEL Classification: k23, k32