Chapter 10

Regulation

Two of the most important regulatory factors in the history of the steel industry have already been covered: labor market regulation and trade disputes in Chapters 6 and 7. They are so critical and nuanced, they warranted special treatment.

We now turn to competition and environmental policy.

Because of its history of oligopolistic pricing, inevitably the steel industry came up against antitrust issues. The Pittsburgh Price system was dismantled just at the time that rising import pressures shifted the regulatory battle to Trade Law. Those were the dominant regulatory issues of the 1960s to 1980s.

However, regulation should not just be seen as a compliance issue in the perpetual debate between the role of free markets ...

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