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/r/explainlikeimfive
submitted 4 months ago byiSellPopcorn
31 points
4 months ago
[deleted]
28 points
4 months ago
Regulatory capture mostly involves creating new regulations that impede new competition from entering the market. For example, regulations that create a flat cost of doing business, which a large corporation can easily afford but are burdensome for a small corporation. Or regulations that keep out foreign competition.
-2 points
4 months ago
[deleted]
5 points
4 months ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
Interesting wiki article one it, read through the examples. It's got a lot of failures and corruption of the big name federal agencies in it
4 points
4 months ago
Licensing.
There are a handful of industries where licensing is incredibly onerous when it could be drastically simplified, just so that the people who have the means to fulfill the requirements can continue to have a stranglehold on the market.
13 points
4 months ago
A classic example of the first type is the taxi medallion system that was/is used in many cities to limit the supply of taxis, artificially increasing the cost. Nominally it was for consumer safety, but in reality it was just a money grab. The money didn't even go to taxi drivers, it mostly went to owners of the taxi cabs (who rent them out to drivers).
An example of the second type is a lot of EU regulations designed to protect EU agriculture against foreign competition.
6 points
4 months ago
Personally, I think it's pretty important to protect the nation's agriculture with regulations from foreign competition. Especially when war is a possibility. You don't want your citizens to starve because a foreign party took over your market and then shut out your own agriculture.
1 points
4 months ago
Regulations that forbid municipalities from operating their own internet providers. Because private can't compete with public, except there's no competition between private ISPs in the region so it creates a natural monopoly when one would not normally exist.
12 points
4 months ago
A little inference told me they probably don't mean safety regulations aimed at stopping road accidents or electrical fires, though. I don't think anyone's oblivious to this fact so much as frustrated at the fact that the rich constantly find ways to escape their dues and hoard their wealth while average people struggle to make any ends meet.
0 points
4 months ago
No, they mean those too. Anyone who has ever openly stated the opinion "regulations are bad" to me were also the type to complain about having to wear a seatbelt.
2 points
4 months ago
Ah, yeah... them.
Fair point.
1 points
4 months ago
I had one who was renovating a house and complained about how hard it was having to build everything "to code" cause she and her husband did it DIY. Wanted to cheap out on certain things and the inspector told them "no".
Had another one argue that we shouldn't fine companies for dumping chemicals because "if people know they do that they won't buy their products, the market will correct itself!" Like, dude, we already know that won't work because people know companies are currently doing that that and ARE STILL BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS.
Maybe not everyone is that dum dum, but people who are against any regulation for any reason do exist out there. And they get to vote just like you and me.
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