Over the past fifteen years, the United States, Western Europe, and Japan have transformed the relationship between governments and corporations. The changes are complex and the terms used to describe them often obscure the reality. In Freer Markets, More Rules, Steven K. Vogel dispenses with euphemisms and makes sense of this recent transformation.

In defiance of conventional wisdom, Vogel contends that the deregulation revolution of the 1980s and 1990s never happened. The advanced industrial countries moved toward liberalization or freer markets at the same time that they imposed reregulation or more rules. Moreover, the countries involved did not converge in regulatory practice but combined liberalization and reregulation in markedly different ways. The state itself, far more than private interest groups, drove the process of regulatory reform. Thus, the story of deregulation is one rich in paradox: a movement aimed at reducing regulation increased it; a movement propelled by global forces reinforced national differences; and a movement that purported to reduce state power was led by the state itself.

Vogel's astute and far-reaching analysis compares deregulation in Britain and Japan, with special attention to the telecommunication and financial services industries. He also considers such important sectors as broadcasting, transportation, and utilities in the United States, France, and Germany.

Steven K. Vogel is Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University.

This masterly work... elevates the reader to a higher stage where he/she can start asking cutting-edge questions about comparative political economy. Rarely does a book leave the reviewer grateful for the opportunity to have looked into an issue so carefully. I welcome this exception.

This is undoubtedly the finest comparative study we have of the regulatory reform movement that has spread across the advanced industrial countries over the last decade or so.

There is growing acceptance of the claim that international market forces have been compelling reluctant governments to deregulate, liberalize, and privatize ever more segments of their domestic economies.... Steven Vogel's refreshing book presents a compelling political challenge to such oversimplifications.

A simple suggestion: anyone who cares to comment on Japan's commitment to deregulation must first read this book. As Steven Vogel explains,... deregulation comes in many guises.