Economic Regulation and Its Reform : What Have We Learned? (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

The past thirty years have witnessed a transformation of government economic intervention in segments of industry throughout the world. Many industries historically subject to economic price and entry controls have been largely deregulated, including natural gas, airlines, and commercial banking. However, recent concerns about market power in restructured electricity markets, airline industry instability amid chronic financial stress, and the challenges created by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act have led to calls for renewed market intervention. Economic Regulation and Its Reform collects research that explores these and other issues surrounding government economic intervention, providing an assessment of the economic effects of regulatory reforms over the past three decades and examining how these insights bear on some of today's most significant concerns in regulatory policy.