Deregulation

Deregulation is the removal or reduction of the demands of regulation. It often takes the form of eliminating a regulation entirely (e.g., government deregulation of airline routes and fares in 1977) or altering an existing regulation in a way that scales it back (e.g., telecommunications in 1996). One important issue with regard to deregulation is which level of government (multinational bodies, national, state, local) makes the decision to deregulate in different circumstances. Different countries will resolve this issue differently. In the United States, some deregulatory matters are within the purview of the federal government (generally when there is interstate commerce involved) and other matters will be decided by states and localities. Other countries have a different mix of local- and national-level regulatory decision making, and ...