Day: 27 May 2021

Regulatory Capture, Trade Unions and Child Abuse

by Dr. Donald S. Siegel and Dr. Robert M. Sauer In his seminal article in 1971 on the economic theory of regulation, the Nobel Laureate George Stigler of the University of Chicago argued that government agencies were often “captured” by the industries they were designed to regulate. Before Stigler, the common view was that noble regulators worked assiduously to correct “market failures”, in order to promote the public interest. Stigler argued that if regulators have other goals in mind besides promoting the public interest (e.g., covering up their own government failure or enhancing their power, prestige, budget and future income) they will eventually represent the interests of the industry they are charged to regulate. This cynical behaviour of regulators is referred to as “regulatory capture”. It is what leads to a “revolving door” between defence contractors and the Ministry of Defence, pharmaceutical companies and the MHRA, and large energy firms and the Environment Agency. When there is regulatory capture, the interests of firms become more important than the public interest, which results in a net loss to society.  Traditionally, capture theory applies mainly to private sector interests, i.e., firms and industries. However, capture theory can be equally applied to public sector unions. In the U.S., it was recently discovered that the American Federation of Teachers and the CDC have colluded on school ...

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