ABSTRACT
For the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, the dominant story with respect to regulation was one of dramatic expansion. Congress passed a long series of statutes creating new agencies and extending regulation to a host of industries. As the problems of high inflation and sluggish growth eluded traditional macroeconomic policy instruments, attention turned to deregulation. Some of the policies that were inherited from the Progressive Era and the New Deal were revoked by Congress or administrators; others were revised to provide a greater role for market forces. Arguably, in an era of polarization and gridlock, there are strong institutional barriers to the passage of the kinds of significant statutes that were so central to the history of regulation. In this context, a broader analytical framework is far more important than ever before. The superficial stability of regulatory institutions under conditions of drift can veil important changes in administration that can undermine the efficacy of policy.
