ABSTRACT
This chapter consider the development and growth of regulatory administration, the problems it presents, and managerial, political, and legal perspectives on improving the quality of governmental regulatory activities. The movement toward deregulation and regulatory reform, more sophisticated cost-benefit analysis, as well as the scrutiny of regulatory activities by public interest groups, legislators, and the media has transformed the political approach toward regulatory administration. At times it will be difficult to determine when the public interest is so broad that regulatory administration should emphasize participation and forward-looking impact assessments over other goals. Regulatory administration tends to vest a great deal of authority in agencies that are designed to be considerably independent of elected officials. The public tends to favor regulation when it learns from private sources of how undesirable some industrial processes are, even though they may pose no immediate danger.
