BOOK REVIEWS
| Pages | 110-112 |
| Date | 01 January 1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb024873 |
| Published date | 01 January 1996 |
| Author | Joanna Gray |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
BOOK REVIEWS
REGULATION: LEGAL FORM AND ECONOMIC THEORY
Anthony Ogus
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1994; ISBN 0-19-825443-1; hardback; £45.00
RESPONSIVE REGULATION: TRANSCENDING THE DEREGULATION
DEBATE
Ian
Ayres
and John
Braithwaite
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1992; ISBN 0-19-507070-4; paperback; £12.99
These two books, while very different,
are both scholarly and thought pro-
voking works. Although they are not
specialist works on Financial regula-
tion and compliance they should
nevertheless be of interest to those
working in the financial services
industry, its regulatory bodies, and
studies and teachers of financial
regulation. For the reader who is new
to academic and theoretical perspec-
tives on regulation it is recom-
mended that Ogus' book be tackled
first. Using, primarily, the theoretical
framework of analysis of the 'law and
economics' movement (with which
business readers will feel at home)
the book's stated aim is to 'classify
and explain regulatory forms and to
evaluate their capacity and record of
achievement'. A
brief,
non-technical
first chapter defines some fundamen-
tals and introduces the nature of
regulation, theories of regulation and
economic reasoning, the scope and
form of regulation and its historical
development in Britain.
Part I examines in detail, and in a
fashion accessible to the non-econo-
mist, the major theoretical justifica-
tions for regulatory intervention in
markets. The first of these is the
'public interest grounds for regula-
tion' which is most commonly
advanced by the great and the good
reform bodies who recommend legis-
lation which imposes regulation. The
second is the more cynical and inter-
esting 'private interest theories of
regulation'. The essence of the latter,
derived from public choice theory, is
that regulation is in itself a good
which can benefit established
industry interests (limiting competi-
tion, raising barriers to entry, prices
etc) and should be seen as a good
being traded in a political market-
place. Those familiar with the history
110
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