Regulacja – wartości – ramy instytucjonalne

• Authors: Bożena Borkowska

Title variants

EN

Regulation – values – institutional framework

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

On the basis of political economy many authors formulate the claim that the wide and growing range of state regulation is characteristic for the contemporary market economy. This raises the question about the reasons for the development of a “regulatory state”. The answers, formulated in the literature, are that economic and social values are important in the formation of the state regulation being for and against it. However, the question arises what determines which values will be considered as a priority, and consequently will determine the implementation of a certain regulation .The purpose of this article is a reflection on the relationships between regulation, economic and social values and institutional framework, in particular the constitution. The first part of the paper discusses two approaches to regulation: positive and normative. The positive conceptions of regulation assume that regulation is a commodity, and its scope is influenced by the demand for regulation notified by interest groups and the supply offered by politicians. However, the question of how to shape the equilibrium in a “market of regulation”, the positive theory of regulation formulates different responses indicating both the possibility of capturing the regulation by narrow interest groups and the formation of equilibrium that benefits consumers and minimize dead-weight welfare loss. This ambiguity of prediction in a positive theory of regulation causes that normative concepts are gaining importance .In these concepts, it is assumed that the market fails, not only in achieving an efficient allocation of social resources but also in the implementation of other, non-economic, social objectives. This leads to the distinction between economic regulation and social regulation and raises the question of the possibility of implementation by regulation such different values as economic efficiency, equality and justice. This issue is explored in the next section, which discusses the concept of the relationship between economic and social regulation in the context of the values proposed by E. Windholz and G. Hodge. According to the authors, this relationship can be formed in two ways: 1) social adjustment may be an element of economic regulation and then the economic values such as efficiency, competition, innovation will have superior nature; 2) by means of regulations socially desirable goals are accomplished and then justice, equality, social solidarity are first-class values, but economic values become secondary. The article casts doubt that in the regulation process we are dealing only with the hierarchy of values in which either economic or social values are superior. At the same time the author points to the possibility of the formation of the relationship between economic and social regulation in a way treating certain economic and social values equally. This issue is discussed in the next section of the paper, in which there is formulated and justified a hypothesis that institutional frameworks, especially the constitution, are important in the formation of regulatory governance,. The scope of the guaranteed rights and freedoms legitimizes the scope of government regulation and provides arguments to interest groups for the introduction of new regulatory arrangements, which are beneficial for the group.

Keywords

EN

regulation; economic regulation; social regulation; values; institutions

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu
• Journal: Ekonomia - Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 4 (25)
• Pages: 197-209

Contributors

author

Bożena Borkowska

• Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wrocławiu

References

• Baumol W.J., Panzar J.C., Willig R.D., Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego 1982.
• Becker G.S., A theory of competition among pressure groups for political influence, „Quarterly Journal of Economics” , August 1983, vol. 98, no. 3.
• Borkowska B., Regulacja monopoli naturalnych w teorii i praktyce, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu, Wrocław 2009.
• Buchanan J.M., Freedom in Constitutional Contract, College Station, Texas A&M University Press 1977.
• Buchanan J.M., What Should Economists Do, Liberty Press, Indianapolis 1979.
• Coase R.H., The problem of social cost, „Journal of Law and Economics” 1960, vol. 3.
• Coase R.H., The lighthouse in economics, „Journal of Law and Economics” 1974, no. 23.
• Demsetz H., Economics as the guide to antitrust regulation, „Journal of Law and Economics” 1976, no. 19.
• Joskow P.L, Noll R.C., Regulation in theory and practice: An overview, [w:] G. Fromm (ed.), Studies in Public Regulation, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1981.
• Kay J.A., Vickers J.S., Regulatory reform: An appraisal, [w:] G. Majone (ed.), Deregulation or Re-regulation, Pinter Publishers, London 1990.
• Lipsey R.G., Purvis D.D., Steiner P.O., Microeconomics, Volume 1 of Economics, Harper and Row Publishers, New York 1988.
• Levi-Faur D. (ed.), Handbook on the Politics of Regulation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, Northampton 2011.
• Levi-Faur D., The global diffusion of regulatory capitalism, The Annals of the AAPSS, March 2005.
• Nelson P., Advertising as information, „Journal of Political Economy” 1974, no. 82.
• North D.C., Institutions and economic performance, [w:] U. Maki, B. Gustafson, Ch. Knudsen (eds.), Rationality Institutions and Economic Methodology, London-New York 1993.
• Olson M., The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1965.
• Peltzman S., Regulation and the Natural Progress of Opulence, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, 2004.
• Pipes R., Własność a wolność, Warszawskie Wydawnictwo Literackie MUZA SA, Warszawa 2000.
• Posner R.A., Theories of economic regulation, „Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science” 1974, no. 5.
• Stigler G.J., The theory of economic regulation, „Bell Journal of Economics” Spring 1971, no. 2.
• Sunstein C.R., After the Rights Revolution: Reconceiving the Regulatory State, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1990.
• Szczepaniuk M., Jaki model bezpieczeństwa dla Polski i Europy, „Dziennik. Gazeta Prawna”, 5 września 2013.
• Szpringer W., Regulacja konkurencji a konkurencja regulacyjna, Poltext, Warszawa 2010.
• Tollison R.D., Rent seeking, [w:] D.C. Mueller (ed.), Perspectives of Public Choice: A Handbook, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA 1997.
• Topolska K., Fryzjerzy: grupa specjalnego ryzyka, ,,Dziennik. Gazeta Prawna”, 5 września 2013.
• Viscusi W.K., Vernon J.M., Harrington J.E. Jr, Economics of Regulation and Antitrust, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1996.
• Wilson G.K., Social Regulation and Explanations of regulatory failure, „Political Studies”, 1984, vol. XXXII.
• Windholz E., Hodge G., Conceptualising social and economic regulation: Implications for modern regulators and regulatory activity, „Monash University Law Review” 2012, vol. 38, no. 2.