7 ms·

And to elaborate on this, wealthy societies "buy" all sorts of things via regulation that can't be directly purchased. Americans "buy" consumer safety by enact

by guyzero 10y ago

And to elaborate on this, wealthy societies "buy" all sorts of things via regulation that can't be directly purchased. Americans "buy" consumer safety by enacting regulations that reduce competition and increase overhead costs. Americans "buy" food safety by having government inspections and paperwork regulations that track supply chains in order to recall contaminated foods more quickly. Americans "buy" clean air and water by enacting pollution controls which raise prices. Americans "buy" fewer highway deaths by having lots of safety regulations on cars and putting up considerable trade barriers to imports (want to import a VW California to California? It's unlikely). Most western countries "buy" the same things. I suspect everyone wants these things but not every country is rich enough to "buy" them. And it's easy to fixate on the costs of these things (and yes, sometimes regulations go too far or the costs outweigh the benefits) and ignore the benefits, which mostly benefit a different set of people than those who bear the direct costs. But in the end all of these things are "bought" by distorting markets via regulation.

p4wnc6 10y ago
Some people may actually disagree that using the term "buy" or "bought" is accurate here, because they may look at the "transaction" and say that the "cost" is not actually a cost. In some cases it is -- paying for government food inspections costs time and money and so there is at minimum the opportunity cost of what else those resources could have been used for. But some things that people say are "costs" -- hindrances on employment, keeping the number of professionals in a certain field artificially low -- may not be viewed as costs. Some may say it's good to have a throttle on employment in field X, not just because of licensing, but because making it super easy to jump into X is just not desirable for anyone and it's too easy for uncredentialed Xers to rip unsuspecting people off, or something. I personally feel this way about Uber and Lyft services (but my opinion could change when self-driving cars become a part of that service). I'd love it if there were heavy licensing regulations for Uber/Lyft, and for drivers. I genuinely think everyone would be better off, and the "cost" of there not being an extremely liquid market for new drivers is actually not a real cost, that liquid market is more harmful for everyone than it is beneficial. We essentially get two "wins" -- regulated drivers leading to more safety, and regulated drivers leading to slightly slower pipeline of introduction of new drivers.
Bombthecat 10y ago
But grinding your workforce to death is ok?

by guyzero 10y ago

p4wnc6 10y ago

Some people may actually disagree that using the term "buy" or "bought" is accurate here, because they may look at the "transaction" and say that the "cost" is not actually a cost. In some cases it is -- paying for government food inspections costs time and money and so there is at minimum the opportunity cost of what else those resources could have been used for. But some things that people say are "costs" -- hindrances on employment, keeping the number of professionals in a certain field artificially low -- may not be viewed as costs. Some may say it's good to have a throttle on employment in field X, not just because of licensing, but because making it super easy to jump into X is just not desirable for anyone and it's too easy for uncredentialed Xers to rip unsuspecting people off, or something. I personally feel this way about Uber and Lyft services (but my opinion could change when self-driving cars become a part of that service). I'd love it if there were heavy licensing regulations for Uber/Lyft, and for drivers. I genuinely think everyone would be better off, and the "cost" of there not being an extremely liquid market for new drivers is actually not a real cost, that liquid market is more harmful for everyone than it is beneficial. We essentially get two "wins" -- regulated drivers leading to more safety, and regulated drivers leading to slightly slower pipeline of introduction of new drivers.

Bombthecat 10y ago

But grinding your workforce to death is ok?