SAFETY-RELATED DEFECTS IN MOTOR VEHICLES AND THE EVALUATION OF SELF-REGULATION *

Tobin reviews the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) self-regulating program including recall of vehicles, the ever-changing definition of defects, frequency of defect reports, and the notification of vehicle owners. He concludes that self-regulation-while minimizing government's cost and involvement in the private sector-has serious defects of its own. It gives manufacturers too much latitude in determining the existence of a defect and makes government overly dependent on the manufacturers for information. Under self-regulation the definition of what constitutes a defect changes from year-to-year; and under it manufacturer's recalcitrance in acknowledging a defect has kept the NHTSA from ordering recalls. Copyright 1982 by The Policy Studies Organization.

THE EXTENT OF SOCIAL REGULATION: HAZARDOUS WASTE CLEANUP AND THE REAGAN IDEOLOGY

Social regulation resolves the conflict over who will bear the costs of production-related harm to public health, safety, and the environment. The extent of social regulation reflects the political power of affected interests, the economic consequences of control, and the prevailing regulatory ideol- ogy. In this paper, I analyze the impact of the Reagan deregulatory ideology on implementation of the Superfund program to cleanup hazardous waste sites. Itesolution of the conflict over enabling legislation is examined to gauge the relative political power of Superfund Act supporters. Resolution of the ronflict over implementation is examined to determine the extent to which these same political forces limited the success of the Reagan ideology in promoting regulatory inaction. Copyright 1988 by The Policy Studies Organization.