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I think you're missing that enforcement by government inspection tends to go against the "unrestricted free market" ideal, that customers will vote with their f

• bdunbar 15y ago
  In theory an unrestricted free market is nice, in reality unworkable. The role of the State is provide ground rules and regulation of the market. A prudent State recognizes such a thing works best with a light hand, of course. Customers need not be un-informed on safety issues. There are many, many organizations that provide such information to consumers - think Consumer Reports, Ralph Nader and so on.
  • seabee 15y ago
    When you get to matters of safety you can either take an unforgiving, Darwinian view and stake people's survival on whether they read Consumer Reports that month, or you can take responsibility and be proactive about preventing theses dangers. The "pure free market" ideal of caveat emptor makes businesses sound an awful like muggers loitering in dark alleys waiting for victims; something you need to protect yourself from. Sure, in a perfectly rational market and with perfectly informed participants these dangers are known and avoided, but perfection is never achieved in reality. Government regulation and licensing, when done properly, papers over the irrationality and information asymmetry by making the decision of what a business can do. After all, would any rational person eat at a restaurant that gave you food poisoning more often than not? If the government didn't force its closure lack of business would, and with more sick people too.