M04 Discussion
Administrative Agencies: Their Structure and Powers –
Explain why Congress needs to delegate rule-making authority to a specialized
agency. What would happen if this did
not occur? Post your response.
Background: From the
1930s on, administrative agencies, law, and procedures have virtually remade
our government and much of private life. Every day, business must deal with
rules and decisions of state and federal administrative agencies. Informally,
such rules are often called regulations, and they differ (only in their source)
from laws passed by Congress and signed into law by the president. The rules
created by agencies are voluminous: thousands of new regulations pour forth
each year. The overarching question of whether there is too much regulation—or
the wrong kind of regulation—of our economic activities is an important one but
well beyond the scope of this chapter, in which we offer an overview of the
purpose of administrative agencies, their structure, and their impact on
business.
