Regulation and Consumer Protection, 4e is intended to document the scope and coverage of regulation and consumer protection in the United States. To provide some coherence, the authors provide a conceptual framework that essentially combines the viewpoints of those who feel regulatory policies are determined by the social and economic environment and those who feel that bureaucracies are permitted the freedom to set policies without restriction. The text explains how the economic and technological environment, along with macropolitical forces, sets the general parameters for regulatory policy.