Independent Agencies and the Delegation Problem: Theoretical and Normative Dimensions

Abstract

Despite some long-forgotten precedents in the 19th century and a few more recent examples, the delegation of important policy-making powers to expert agencies operating outside the line of hierarchical control or oversight by the central administration is a new development in Europe. So new, in fact, that adequate theoretical explanations are still lacking, while the normative implications remain ill understood. To be sure, it is not difficult to establish a correlation between such an institutional development and, for example, the changing role of the state in the economy. Thus, the rise of a new breed of regulatory agencies in Britain is a direct and obvious consequence of the policy of privatizing public utilities pursued by the Conservative government; and one may safely predict that the adoption of similar policies by other countries in Europe will produce similar institutional consequences.