Toward a New Theory of Regulation: Conference Summary

Government and Markets: Toward a New Theory of Regulation
A 2008 Tobin Project Conference at White Oak

What are the best ways to structure economic regulation in an age of rapid technological change, financial crises, fraying social safety nets, globalization, and the reemergence of concentrated corporate power?

With the February 2008 conference, “Government and Markets: Toward a New Theory of Regulation,” the Tobin Project launched an ongoing conversation among leading scholars and lawmakers that is framed by this important and timely question. New thinking is urgently needed on the appropriate regulatory relationships between government and business and, by extension, the most constructive roles that markets and the state can play in our society. Over the long term, our aspiration is to inform legislative decision-making in the broad domain of economic regulation, encouraging the development of new frameworks that can meet the challenges of maintaining a vibrant market economy that serves the public interest.

Involving prominent senior academics and promising younger scholars, the February 2008 conference was centered upon two primary goals:

assessing the strengths and weaknesses of reigning approaches to regulation and to the economic role of the state, and
envisioning appropriate regulatory arrangements for the new century.

At the conference, policymakers and a multidisciplinary collection of scholars connected to share ideas, challenge some conventional wisdom, and produce an agenda for future research. Topics included determining the significance of new behavioral research on traditional political and economic models; identifying conditions conducive to regulatory successes and diagnosing the reasons for regulatory failures; generating techniques for measuring the success or failure of regulation; and providing tools for policymakers to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of regulation.

The conference began a process of refocusing academic research agendas on both pressing policy dilemmas and larger questions about the role and capacity of government. This long-term project will involve contributions from scholars across disciplines and in all stages of their careers — from Nobel laureates to graduate students — in creating a new problem-focused academic community.

Point of Departure

Over the last fifty years, the prevailing assumptions about the role, power, and limitations of American government have undergone a dramatic transformation, at first in the academic worlds of economic and political theory, and then in the broader polity.