Ten Global Trends in Regulation: A Future Outlook

Abstract

The regulatory regimes that public servants are involved in today are largely shaped by five global trends in regulation that emerged in the last decades of the 20th century. They include performance-based regulation, risk regulation, responsive regulation, smart regulation, and better regulation. This chapter provides introductions into and discussions of these trends. From there on, the chapter explores five key trends in regulation that have emerged since the start of the 21st century, and that will likely be dominant in regulatory governance over the next decades to come. They include experimental regulation, behavioural insights informed regulation (‘nudging’), regulatory intermediaries, regulatory orchestration, and regulatory stewardship.

Keywords: regulation, governance, enforcement, public service, regulatory practice

JEL Classification: K29