A major study of federal regulation

Look Inside

Contents

Acronyms - xi

Part 1. Theory
Introduction: Explaining Regulation - 3
Chapter 1. The Political Economy of Regulation - 9

Part 2: History
Chapter 2. Establishing a Baseline: The Origins of Trucking Regulation - 39

Part 3. Policy Implementation: The Macrolevel
Chapter 3. The Big Picture: The Evolution of ICC Motor Freight Policy - 61

Part 4. Policy Implementation: The Microlevel
Introduction: Microlevel Implementation -- Variance across Policy Domains - 117
Chapter 4. Motor Carrier Entry: Beyond Capture - 121
Chapter 5. The Politics of Business and Labor: Merger Policy - 163
Chapter 6. Motor Freight Pricing: Regulators as Arbitrators - 191

Part 5. Deregulation
Chapter 7. The Limits of Interest Group Influence: Deregulation of the Trucking Industry - 211

Part 6. Conclusions
Chapter 8. Regulation, Organization, and Politics - 247

Glossary - 261

Description

Regulation, Organizations, and Politics examines the evolution of regulation at the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC has probably had the most profound impact on any federal agency on the way social scientists view politics. From a perspective based in modern political economy, the author develops an analysis that improves our understanding of the determinants of bureaucratic performance and clarifies the conditions under which organizations are likely to have a substantial influence.
 
Employing a variety of techniques, Regulation, Organizations, and Politics explains how motor carriers, particularly the larger truckers who controlled the American Trucking Association, were unable to control public policy once the chief executive decided to expand substantial political resources on reforming the motor carrier system. The author shows that this failure was rooted in the carriers’ inability to offer the requisite rewards and sanctions required to influence those with power over the outcome. This work thus demonstrates that an integrated approach to the intersections of rational, if often incompletely informed, actors can help us to understand phenomena that seem puzzling at first consideration.