In Britain, the 1980s was a decade of major regulatory reform in Britain. Water and Financial Services were signature examples. In both industries, the model which emerged was that state agencies should create a rulebook and senior executives and financiers would be allowed, even encouraged, to make as much money as possible for themselves from these activities, subject to observing the rules. In both industries, this approach can now be seen to have failed. The proposed response to these failures is to write still more rules and reshuffle the responsibilities of regulatory agencies.

In this talk, John Kay will argue that the underlying philosophy was flawed from inception, that the planned tinkering will have at best marginal effect, and that both industries should be restructured within the context of a broader reappraisal of the relationship between business and society.