Deregulation by Country
– Argentina: Underwent heavy economic deregulation, privatization, and had a fixed exchange rate during the Menem administration (1989–1999).
– Australia: Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced the policy of Minimum Effective Regulation in 1986. John Howard’s Liberal Party began deregulation of the labor market with the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
– Brazil: After Dilma’s impeachment, Michel Temer introduced a labor reform and allowed up to 100% of foreign capital on Brazilian air companies. Bolsonaro administration also promoted deregulations such as the Economic Freedom Law, Natural Gas Law, Business Environment Law, Basic Sanitation Legal Framework, and deregulating the use of foreign currency.
– Canada: Natural gas is deregulated in most of the country, with the exception of some Atlantic provinces and some pockets like Vancouver Island and Medicine Hat. Ontario began deregulation of electricity supply in 2002.
– European Union: In 2003, there were amendments to EU directive on software patents. The European Common Aviation Area has given carriers from one EU country the freedom of the air in most others.
– Russia: Wide-ranging deregulation efforts in the late 1990s under Boris Yeltsin. Privatization efforts partially reversed under Vladimir Putin. Electricity sector deregulation, with railroads and communal utilities following. Natural gas sector (Gazprom) frequently demanded deregulation by the United States and European Union.
– United Kingdom: Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government initiated deregulation and privatization in the 1979 general election. Reduction of building regulations from 306 pages to 24 under the Building Act 1984. Privatization of British Telecom, London bus services, local bus services, and railways. Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown introduced better regulation program from 1997 to 2010. Infrastructure and maintenance work contracted out to private enterprise under public-private partnership.
– United States: Regulated industries often control government regulatory agencies in regulatory capture. Examples of deregulated industries include banking, telecommunications, airlines, and natural resources. Progressive Era Presidents implemented regulation on big business and industry. Laissez-faire policies pursued by Harding and Coolidge administrations. Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented economic regulations in response to the Great Depression.
Argentina
– Argentina underwent heavy economic deregulation, privatization, and had a fixed exchange rate during the Menem administration (1989–1999).
– In December 2001, Paul Krugman compared Enron with Argentina, claiming that both were experiencing economic collapse due to excessive deregulation.
– Two months later, Herbert Inhaber claimed that Krugman confused correlation with causation, and neither collapse was due to excessive deregulation.
Australia
– Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced the policy of Minimum Effective Regulation in 1986.
– John Howard’s Liberal Party began deregulation of the labor market with the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
– The labor market under the Hawke/Keating governments operated under the Prices and Incomes Accord.
– In the mid-90s, John Howard’s Liberal Party went much further in deregulating the labor market through its WorkChoices policy.
– This was reversed under the following Rudd Labor government.
Brazil
– After Dilma’s impeachment, Michel Temer introduced a labor reform and allowed up to 100% of foreign capital on Brazilian air companies.
– Bolsonaro administration promoted deregulations such as the Economic Freedom Law, Natural Gas Law, Business Environment Law, Basic Sanitation Legal Framework, and deregulating the use of foreign currency.
– Bolsonaro administration also allowed the direct sale of ethanol by fuel stations and opened the rail transport industry to private investment.
Canada
– Natural gas is deregulated in most of the country, with the exception of some Atlantic provinces and some pockets like Vancouver Island and Medicine Hat.
– Comparison shopping websites operate in some provinces, particularly Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
– Ontario began deregulation of electricity supply in 2002 but pulled back temporarily due to voter and consumer backlash.
– Alberta has deregulated its electricity provision, but the consumer price of electricity has increased substantially.
– Customers in most provinces can choose to purchase from a local distribution company (LDC) or a deregulated supplier. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a result of new trends in economic thinking about the inefficiencies of government regulation, and the risk that regulatory agencies would be controlled by the regulated industry to its benefit, and thereby hurt consumers and the wider economy. Economic regulations were promoted during the Gilded Age, in which progressive reforms were claimed as necessary to limit externalities like corporate abuse, unsafe child labor, monopolization, pollution, and to mitigate boom and bust cycles. Around the late 1970s, such reforms were deemed burdensome on economic growth and many politicians espousing neoliberalism started promoting deregulation.
The stated rationale for deregulation is often that fewer and simpler regulations will lead to raised levels of competitiveness, therefore higher productivity, more efficiency and lower prices overall. Opposition to deregulation may involve apprehension regarding environmental pollution and environmental quality standards (such as the removal of regulations on hazardous materials), financial uncertainty, and constraining monopolies.
Regulatory reform is a parallel development alongside deregulation. Regulatory reform refers to organized and ongoing programs to review regulations with a view to minimizing, simplifying, and making them more cost effective. Such efforts, given impetus by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, are embodied in the United States Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and the United Kingdom's Better Regulation Commission. Cost–benefit analysis is frequently used in such reviews. In addition, there have been regulatory innovations, usually suggested by economists, such as emissions trading.
Deregulation can be distinguished from privatization, which transfers state-owned businesses to the private sector.
