deregulation

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Deregulation

The reduction of government's role in controlling markets, which lead to freer markets, and presumably a more efficient marketplace.

Deregulate

To reduce the amount of regulation over a market or economy. It may include reduced or eliminated requirements for reporting or filing statements with regulators. Deregulating may allow an organization to conduct more activities than it could before; for example, it may allow a bank to make more high risk investments. Deregulation is intended to increase efficiency in the market by letting the Invisible Hand guide the economy apart from government intervention. Opponents, however, argue that deregulation increases the likelihood of fraud and unfair practices such as insider trading. Many analysts agree that deregulation helps firms on solid financial footing and hurts those that are not.

deregulation

The act of removing controls from some sector of the economy. In nearly all cases, deregulation of a given industry has both positive and negative implications for investors. Typically, firms in a strong financial position benefit from deregulation, while firms in a weak financial position suffer.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

deregulation

the removal of controls over a particular economic activity which have been imposed by the government or some other regulatory body, for example an industry trade association. Deregulation may be initiated either because the controls are no longer seen as necessary (for example the ending of PRICE CONTROLS to combat inflation); or because they are over-restrictive, preventing companies from taking advantage of business opportunities (for example the ending of most FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTROLS by the UK in 1979 designed to liberalize overseas physical and portfolio investment).

Deregulation has assumed particular significance in the context of recent initiatives by the UK government to stimulate greater competition by, for example, allowing private companies to compete for business in areas (such as local bus services) hitherto confined to central government or local authority operators. The Government has also initiated programmes of deregulation in the employment protection field, because it believes that extensive regulation imposes an unwelcome burden on business, stifling flexibility and inhibiting the action of market forces.

Conversely, government initiatives can be seen to have promoted regulation in so far as they have imposed rules on how trade unions should conduct their affairs (see TRADE UNION ACT 1984). Also, paradoxically the privatization of nationalized industries has in some cases led to greater regulation of their activities, because public pressure has necessitated the creation of regulatory agencies to ensure that private monopoly status is not abused at consumers' expense. For example, Ofgas regulates the gas industry and Oftel the telecommunications industry See REGULATION, NATIONALIZATION VERSUS PRIVATIZATION, EMPLOYMENT ACT 1989.

deregulation

the removal of controls over economic activity that have been imposed by the government or some other regulatory body (for example, an industry trade association). Deregulation may be initiated either because the controls are no longer seen as necessary (for example, the ending of PRICE CONTROLS to combat inflation) or because they are overly restrictive, preventing companies from taking advantage of business opportunities; for example, the ending of most FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTROLS by the UK in 19 79 was designed to liberalize overseas physical and portfolio investment.

Conversely, government initiatives can be seen to have promoted regulation insofar as, for example, the PRIVATIZATION of nationalized industries has in some cases led to greater regulation of their activities via the creation of regulatory agencies (such as Ofgas in the case of the gas industry and Oftel in the case of the telecommunications industry) to ensure that the interests of consumers are protected.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

References in periodicals archive ?

'Government must also show that in the areas where there was deregulation, people are gaining and that whatever comes in as funds will be used for the benefit of the people.

N305bn Subsidy: Stakeholders Task FG On Full Deregulation

"Residential ratepayers have the most to lose when it comes to deregulation," he said.

Talks of electric retail dereg begin again in Arizona

The chairman compared the deregulation process to a tube.

Business lobby calls for more effective deregulation

Conclusion: Women and middle aged patients suffer from more cognitive deficits, emotional deregulation and depressive symptoms.

ASSESSMENT OF COGNITIVE DEFICITS, EMOTIONAL DEREGULATION AND DEPRESSION IN PATIENTS OF GENERAL SURGERY: A PRE/POST STUDY

A: Essentially deregulation will allow companies to choose which retailer provides their water, waste water and sewerage services.

MEET THE EXPERT; Q&A WITH DAN SMITH, HEAD OF ENERGY AT GREAT ANNUAL SAVINGS GROUP

Open Water, a body set up by the UK government to deliver a competitive market, estimates that deregulation in England will deliver around [pounds sterling]200m of benefits to business customers and the UK economy.

Water deregulation could lead to great savings for business; Open Water estimates that deregulation in England will deliver around [pounds sterling]200m of benefits to business customers and the economy

For the subsequent deregulated industries that are considered, articles cover the historical and legal process of the regulation pretty thoroughly as well as the details of the deregulation (e.g.

The Causes and Effects of Deregulation, Volume I and II

The deregulatory agency would also possess significant expertise about deregulation. It would seek to identify problematic regulations that might be modified or eliminated, and would have an expert's understanding of how the new system would operate.

Using delegation to promote deregulation: instead of trying to restrain agencies' rulemaking power, why not create an agency with the authority and incentive to deregulate?

Diesel prices should have been cut by 35 paise on falling global rates but oil companies have decided to wait for the government's decision on deregulation.

Diesel decontrol decision after polls

The context of this policy success was the unsatisfactory performance of the American economy during the 1970s due to "stagflation." The deregulation movement represented an attempt to remove microeconomic rigidities in the economy so that the economy would be less inflation prone.

Jimmy Carter, Alfred Kahn, and airline deregulation: anatomy of a policy success

Energy Information Administration data on residential prices stretching back to 2002, the first year most Texans were allowed to choose their electricity provider under deregulation. The coalition's report concludes that trends identified in the data indicate problems in the deregulated system are only slowly improving.