The contributors to this volume take stock of the move towards private pensions in the UK and Germany since the 1980s, emphasizing the role of governments in creating and regulating private pensions. They argue that whilst the provider state has been retrenched, private pensions have given rise to a new regulatory state which follows on from the earlier regulatory state in public utilities. The contributing authors compare pension regulation and utility regulation, while others analyze the regulatory role of the EU. The burgeoning literature on regulation has paid little attention to the regulation of social security, while, conversely, social policy researchers have dealt with regulatory issues only in passing. This volume opens a dialogue between both groups of researchers. Private pension policy, which has tended to be a separate domain analyzed by economists and lawyers, is being drawn into the arena of wider welfare policies: the regulatory state meets the welfare state.