Economic Report of the President

ceived to be a consequence of excessive competition. The presentstructure of Federal regulation of the energy markets dates from the1970s and primarily reflects an attempt to protect consumers fromthe effects of the large increase in oil prices originating abroad.These policies may or may not have been appropriate to theperiod in which they were initiated. But both conditions and perceptionsare now very different. Increasing demand and changing technologyhave substantially reduced the initial monopoly power ofmany regulated firms. Our perceptions have also changed, largely inresponse to developing conditions during the long history of regulationand the encouraging developments during the more recentperiod of partial deregulation. There is now a more general perceptionthat the developments in regulated markets have largely outrunthe present structure of economic regulation.As we approach the 100th anniversary of the first broad body ofFederal economic regulation, it is time for a comprehensive review ofwhether this form of regulation serves the interests of the contemporaryeconomy. A resolution of this issue would then permit greaterattention to the different and more complex issues affecting therecent Federal regulation of health, safety, and environmental conditions.123