edited by Roger E. Meiners and Bruce Yandle

Was the so-called "Reagan Revolution" a failure? Many of that administration's friends and opponents think so. When Reagan was elected in 1980, there was a popular belief that the size of government would be decreased, regulatory excesses of the previous decade would be rolled back, and entire agencies would be abolished. However, growth of the federal government continued and no agencies were phased out. Why did this happen? In this book, professional economists and lawyers who were at or near the top of the decision-making process in various federal agencies during the Reagan administration discuss the regulatory reform efforts of those eight years. Their conclusion is that powerful special interests rendered almost all of the huge federal bureaucracy impervious to reform. The contributors offer candid observations and personal insights that point out the pitfalls facing any serious efforts to control and reduce the federal bureaucracy. This is a sobering, real-world book that anyone concerned with serious government reform should read.