Many critics of the Bush administration suggest that our present evils--the housing bubble and aftermath, the collapse of financial markets, escalating health care costs, the failures of the automobile industry--can all be traced to a reckless deregulatory focus that permeated the administration of George W. Bush. Others, however, consider this something of a just-so story and are not persuaded that the Bush administration was seriously focused on deregulation.

Discussing the myths and realities of deregulation during the Bush 43 years will be D. C. Searle Senior Fellow Christopher DeMuth, who, during the Reagan administration, served as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget; Susan E. Dudley, OIRA administrator from January 2007 to January 2009; and economist John F. Morrall, who spent two decades at OIRA. AEI resident scholar Kenneth P. Green will both contribute remarks and moderate the discussion.