Public Opinion about Regulation
基于1970年代以来的综合社会调查数据，描述了普通公民对经济监管的看法，发现公众普遍持怀疑态度，希望减少监管且不信任监管者，但支持环境和电价监管，且不同人口群体对非传统监管态度存在差异。
The paper describes how ordinary citizens view economic regulation and summarizes answers to questions about regulation and regulators since the 1970s from the General Social Survey. The pattern is clear: ordinary citizens are skeptical and wary. They want less regulation and do not trust regulators to do what is right. The mistrust has become stronger over time. However, the public supports environmental and electricity rate regulation. These sentiments are shared across age, sex, race, education, and income groups and the left/right ideological spectrum. The public tends to oppose less traditional regulation, such as wage and price controls, government ownership of some industries, and regulation of steel prices. But there is less consensus across demographic groups: blacks, the less educated, and low-income groups are less hostile, or marginally friendly, to less conventional modes of regulation. The paper concludes by contrasting public opinion with the path of regulation since the 1970s.