Regulation : A Distinctly American Institution

Abstract

In the United States, recent years saw an explosion of interest in government regulation of private enterprises, among legislative committees and business associations as well as in the academic circle. This reflects, of course, the rapid growth of regulation itself, especially during the last two decades. In reaction, the administration initiated partial and gradual deregulation of airline and telecommunication industries lately, and is contemplating further deregulation. While interest groups such as business enterprises and their organizations, labor unions .and agricultural cooperatives may be equally or more important in influencing the shape of American industrial society, it is of utmost significance to understand the role of regulatory agencies. This is because the regulation in the present form is a distinctly American institution, by no means equally observable in other industrialized countries. Standing somewhat mogically between the free market and public ownership, this administrative form of intervention began to take roots as the state governments regulated public utilities and transportation in the nineteenth century. Federal regulation grew by leaps and bounds in its size and power, since the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887.