The Political Ascent of the New Creed

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the growing political appeal of economic theories of regulation beginning in the early 1970s, when regulation was still largely seen as a beneficial solution in the public’s interest, to be modified only when economic costs outweighed public advantages. The critique against substantial government regulation, emerging within governmental corridors, was of a revisionist and pragmatic bent. Regulatory reform was seen as a tool for controlling inflation and spurring growth, often implying a reduction in regulations and the incorporation of market incentives in congruence with cost–benefit analyses. Later, in the 1980s, the critique evolved into a more systematic stance, with regulation being viewed not as a solution but as the inherent problem. There was a palpable shift in regulatory approach towards privatized decision-making, endorsing concepts of individual rationality and market discipline.