Policy approaches to economic deregulation and regulatory reform

Regulatory reform is now a worldwide trend. Over the last 20 years, a number of once heavily regulated sectors, especially of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) economies, have experienced considerable economic deregulation and regulatory reform. This subject remains the focus of continuing debate in a number of countries — including developed, developing and newly — industrialising economies.1 The sectors chosen for regulatory reform or deregulation, the approaches employed by policy-makers, and the interplay of political, social and economic factors, vary significantly. There is also no single definition of deregulation that captures the full range of policy measures employed across countries.2