Economic Regulation vs. Competition: Uncle Sam the Monopoly Man

Despite contrary speeches on the corporate hustings, our free enterprise economy has yielded to a mixed economy of public regulation and private industry.'Yet because public policymakers have not confronted fundamental questions about its purpose, present economic regulation lacks both a comprehensive theory and a consistent goal.This brief comment argues that our unguided regulatory system undermines competition and entrenches monopoly at the public's expense; 2 it then suggests what can be done about it.3 t This article represents a synthesis of many of the findings and arguments of a number of critics of economic regulation in TnE MONOIOLY MAK:ERS (M. Green ed.1973) (forthcoming).