ABSTRACT
This entry examines the role and importance of regulatory policy in the United States. It discusses definitions of regulation, including the distinction between economic and social regulation and the economic and political issues associated with these two major regulatory types. The entry then examines the four major stages of the evolution of regulatory policy in the United States starting with the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission continuing through the New Deal and the growth of regulatory policy in the 1960s and 1970 to the deregulatory movement starting in the late 1970s. It concludes with a short discussion on the current issues of regulatory policy, including moves to increase participation and the use of the Internet to improve access.
