In the past 20 years, few reforms of the public sector have received more attention, and stimulated more controversy, than the reforms made to regulation making and regulatory management. The rise of regulatory policies -explicit policies aimed at continuously improving the quality of the regulatory environment -- shows how early notions of "deregulation" or "cutting red tape" quickly gave way to a central "good governance" notion. This notion is based on an understanding of how regulatory practices can substantially improve market performance, public sector effectiveness and citizens’ satisfaction, through a mix or deregulation, re-regulation and better quality regulation, backed up by new or improved institutions.

Regulatory Policies in OECD Countries documents the development and emergence of that understanding. It describes the "state of play" in the regulatory policy agenda in OECD countries, and identifies the key challenges facing regulatory practitioners in the future.