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date: 22 March 2025

Economic Regulation. 

Source:
The Oxford Companion to United States History
Author(s):
Thomas K. McCrawThomas K. McCraw

The objectives of economic regulation are usually mixed: to achieve an appropriate balance between efficiency and equity, to steer acquisitive human urges into productive channels, and to strike reasonable trade-offs between economic growth and environmental protection. The United States has had an uneven history of regulation, one that was relatively good in comparison to many other countries. For most of its history, the United States featured the world's most entrepreneurially “free” economy with the least amount of public regulation. Such generalizations, however, disguise a more complex reality.... ...

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