Synopses & Reviews
Not since the 1960s have U.S. politicians, Republican or Democrat, campaigned on platforms defending big government, much less the use of regulation to help solve social ills. And since the late 1970s, "deregulation" has become perhaps the most ubiquitous political catchword of all. This book takes on the critics of government regulation. Providing the first major alternative to conventional arguments grounded in public choice theory, it demonstrates that regulatory government can, and on important occasions does, advance general interests.
Unlike previous accounts, Regulation and Public Interests takes agencies' decision-making rules rather than legislative incentives as a central determinant of regulatory outcomes. Drawing from both political science and law, Steven Croley argues that such rules, together with agencies' larger decision-making environments, enhance agency autonomy. Agency personnel inclined to undertake regulatory initiatives that generate large but diffuse benefits (while imposing smaller but more concentrated costs) can use decision-making rules to develop socially beneficial regulations even over the objections of Congress and influential interest groups. This book thus provides a qualified defense of regulatory government. Its illustrative case studies include the development of tobacco rulemaking by the Food and Drug Administration, ozone and particulate matter rules by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service's "roadless" policy for national forests, and regulatory initiatives by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.
Review
"Croley has done much more than write a lucid and learned book. His analysis of the behavior of agencies is an important contribution to our understanding of government regulation. . . . His argument that agencies possess autonomy stands as a lasting contribution to our grasp of regulatory action. . . . Croley has written an important and creative book. Agenda number one of this book--a serious critique of public choice theory--is successful in many ways. With great care, Croley lays out the elements of the theory and systematically critiques it. Such a comprehensive corrective is long overdue."--M. Elizabeth Magill, Michigan Law Review
Review
This book marks the first extended effort to develop a full-fledged alternative theory of why the existing regulatory state--to which we, as a nation, are clearly and probably irrevocably committed--might indeed be capable of furthering the public interest.
Review
"Steven Croley . . . has written an ambitious and valuable book. . . . The book should be illuminating and useful for political scientists and legal scholars interested in regulatory policy, the politics of regulation, public administration, and administrative law. Regulation and Public Interests would be an excellent book for graduate courses in any of those fields."--Robert A. Kagan, Law and Politics Book Review
Review
Croley has done much more than write a lucid and learned book. His analysis of the behavior of agencies is an important contribution to our understanding of government regulation. . . . His argument that agencies possess autonomy stands as a lasting contribution to our grasp of regulatory action. . . . Croley has written an important and creative book. Agenda number one of this book--a serious critique of public choice theory--is successful in many ways. With great care, Croley lays out the elements of the theory and systematically critiques it. Such a comprehensive corrective is long overdue. M. Elizabeth Magill
Review
Steven Croley . . . has written an ambitious and valuable book. . . . The book should be illuminating and useful for political scientists and legal scholars interested in regulatory policy, the politics of regulation, public administration, and administrative law. Regulation and Public Interests would be an excellent book for graduate courses in any of those fields. Michigan Law Review
Synopsis
Not since the 1960s have U.S. politicians, Republican or Democrat, campaigned on platforms defending big government, much less the use of regulation to help solve social ills. And since the late 1970s, "deregulation" has become perhaps the most ubiquitous political catchword of all. This book takes on the critics of government regulation. Providing the first major alternative to conventional arguments grounded in public choice theory, it demonstrates that regulatory government can, and on important occasions does, advance general interests.
Unlike previous accounts, Regulation and Public Interests takes agencies' decision-making rules rather than legislative incentives as a central determinant of regulatory outcomes. Drawing from both political science and law, Steven Croley argues that such rules, together with agencies' larger decision-making environments, enhance agency autonomy. Agency personnel inclined to undertake regulatory initiatives that generate large but diffuse benefits (while imposing smaller but more concentrated costs) can use decision-making rules to develop socially beneficial regulations even over the objections of Congress and influential interest groups. This book thus provides a qualified defense of regulatory government. Its illustrative case studies include the development of tobacco rulemaking by the Food and Drug Administration, ozone and particulate matter rules by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service's "roadless" policy for national forests, and regulatory initiatives by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.
Synopsis
"This valuable book thoroughly documents the public choice critique against government regulation working well. The net result is that the reader has the impression of having done battle with this standard argument about why regulation can't work well, and then seen compelling evidence that it can. The presentation is solid and engaging."
--Paul Teske, University of Colorado at Denver"Steven Croley . . . has written an ambitious and valuable book. It offers a strong defense of the American regulatory state and the role of administrative procedure in encouraging good regulatory governance. The book should be illuminating and useful for political scientists and legal scholars interested in regulatory policy, the politics of regulation, public administration, and administrative law. Regulation And Public Interests would be an excellent book for graduate courses in any of those fields."--Robert A. Kagan, Department of Political Science and School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
"This book marks the first extended effort to develop a full-fledged alternative theory of why the existing regulatory state--to which we, as a nation, are clearly and probably irrevocably committed--might indeed be capable of furthering the public interest."--Cynthia Farina, Cornell University Law School
Synopsis
"This valuable book thoroughly documents the public choice critique against government regulation working well. The net result is that the reader has the impression of having done battle with this standard argument about why regulation can't work well, and then seen compelling evidence that it can. The presentation is solid and engaging."--Paul Teske, University of Colorado at Denver
"This book marks the first extended effort to develop a full-fledged alternative theory of why the existing regulatory state--to which we, as a nation, are clearly and probably irrevocably committed--might indeed be capable of furthering the public interest."--Cynthia Farina, Cornell University Law School
"Steven Croley . . . has written an ambitious and valuable book. It offers a strong defense of the American regulatory state and the role of administrative procedure in encouraging good regulatory governance. The book should be illuminating and useful for political scientists and legal scholars interested in regulatory policy, the politics of regulation, public administration, and administrative law. Regulation And Public Interests would be an excellent book for graduate courses in any of those fields."--Robert A. Kagan, Department of Political Science and School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
Synopsis
Not since the 1960s have U.S. politicians, Republican or Democrat, campaigned on platforms defending big government, much less the use of regulation to help solve social ills. And since the late 1970s, "deregulation" has become perhaps the most ubiquitous political catchword of all. This book takes on the critics of government regulation. Providing the first major alternative to conventional arguments grounded in public choice theory, it demonstrates that regulatory government can, and on important occasions does, advance general interests.
Unlike previous accounts, Regulation and Public Interests takes agencies' decision-making rules rather than legislative incentives as a central determinant of regulatory outcomes. Drawing from both political science and law, Steven Croley argues that such rules, together with agencies' larger decision-making environments, enhance agency autonomy. Agency personnel inclined to undertake regulatory initiatives that generate large but diffuse benefits (while imposing smaller but more concentrated costs) can use decision-making rules to develop socially beneficial regulations even over the objections of Congress and influential interest groups. This book thus provides a qualified defense of regulatory government. Its illustrative case studies include the development of tobacco rulemaking by the Food and Drug Administration, ozone and particulate matter rules by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service's "roadless" policy for national forests, and regulatory initiatives by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.
Synopsis
"This valuable book thoroughly documents the public choice critique against government regulation working well. The net result is that the reader has the impression of having done battle with this standard argument about why regulation can't work well, and then seen compelling evidence that it can. The presentation is solid and engaging."--Paul Teske, University of Colorado at Denver
"This book marks the first extended effort to develop a full-fledged alternative theory of why the existing regulatory state--to which we, as a nation, are clearly and probably irrevocably committed--might indeed be capable of furthering the public interest."--Cynthia Farina, Cornell University Law School
"Steven Croley . . . has written an ambitious and valuable book. It offers a strong defense of the American regulatory state and the role of administrative procedure in encouraging good regulatory governance. The book should be illuminating and useful for political scientists and legal scholars interested in regulatory policy, the politics of regulation, public administration, and administrative law. Regulation And Public Interests would be an excellent book for graduate courses in any of those fields."--Robert A. Kagan, Department of Political Science and School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
About the Author
Steven P. Croley is professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School. He earned a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: An Uneasy Commitment to Regulatory Government 1
PART I: THE CYNICAL VIEW OF REGULATORY
GOVERNMENT, AND ITS ALTERNATIVES 7
Chapter One; The Basic Project 9
Chapter Two: The Cynical View of Regulation 14
Chapter Three: Is Regulatory Capture Inevitable? 26
Chapter Four: Alternative Visions of Regulatory Government 53
PART II: THE ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATORY STATE 77
Chapter Five: Opening the Black Box: Regulatory Decisionmaking in Legal Context 81
Chapter Six: Regulatory Government as Administrative Government 102
Chapter Seven: Participation in Administrative Decisionmaking 118
Chapter Eight: The Administrative-Process Approach Expanded: A More Developed Picture 134
PART III: PUBLIC INTERESTED REGULATION 157
Chapter Nine: The Environmental Protection Agency's Ozone and Particulate Matter Rules 163
Chapter Ten: The Food and Drug Administration's Tobacco Initiative 180
Chapter Eleven: The Forest Service's Roadless Policy for National Forests 196
Chapter Twelve: Socially Beneficial Administrative Decisionmaking: Additional Evidence 213
PART IV: PUBLIC CHOICE AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS 237
Chapter Thirteen: The Public Choice Theory Revisited 241
Chapter Fourteen: The Promise of an Administrative-Process Orientation 258
Chapter Fifteen: Regulatory Rents, Regulatory Failures, and Other Objections 284
Conclusion: The Regulatory State and Social Welfare 304
Notes 307
Index 365