The political economy of regulation: Does it have any lessons for accounting research?

Abstract

The paper argues that regulation is at the heart of markets, and that regulation is itself an inherently political process. It explores how this insight works out by examining a range of real existing national regulatory systems ‐ notably the US, the UK and the European Union. It argues that political jurisdiction matters, because of the influence of institutional structure, political culture and historical trajectory. It suggests that these insights need to be central to accounting research, because at the heart of accounting research lie processes which are critical to the regulation of economic life.

Keywords::

• regulation
• politics
• accounting
• law
• government

Notes

The author is the WJM Mackenzie Professor of Government at the School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester.

The paper was originally prepared for the ICAEW ‘Better Markets’ conference on 14 December 2009. The author is grateful for the comments received on that occasion, and for the comments received as part of the journal's refereeing process.

Correspondence should be addressed to: Michael Moran, School of Social Sciences, Arthur Lewis Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Tel: [phone].