Factors Explaining the Regulatory Activity of the Spanish Autonomous Communities (1989–2001)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explain the regulatory activity of the Autonomous Communities (Spanish regional governments) between 1989 and 2001, employing the methodological framework provided by the economic theory of regulation. To this end, a ‘model of regulatory demand’ and a ‘model of regulatory supply’ are specified and estimated for the seventeen Autonomous Communities over this period. The results of these estimations show that for the fields of institutional and economic regulation the behaviour of the Autonomous Communities between 1989 and 2001 may be explained by a complementary set of supply and demand factors: financial, political, and institutional factors on the supply side, and the heterogeneity of preferences and the role of interest groups on the demand side. However, with respect to total regulation and social regulation, supply factors outweigh demand factors in the explanation of regional regulatory production.