Abstract

This article is aimed at providing both a contribution to the ongoing debate on the role of 'independent regulatory agencies' in the Italian economic system and a coherent theoretical frame of reference for testing the current institutional system of regulation. After a review of the main theoretical issues relating to the choice of such agencies as proper regulatory tools, the paper examines what principles are useful when proceeding with the design and the evaluation of the governance's operational systems, in order to discipline the introduction of regulatory agencies into the institutional framework. Finally, a remark on the way these problems have been handled in the United States - the nation which gave birth to regulatory agencies - provides an empirical example of the approach adopted in the article.