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COVERT_DEREGULATION

                                               September 15, 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/04/the-coase-theorem-is-widely-cited-in-economics-ronald-coase-hated-it/

"Rwcan" commented:

  "The really ludicrous assumption
  is that there are motivated and
  competent regulators."
                                                           COASIAN_REDISTRIBUTION
As csmith932 responded, you can indeed find
decent government employees (and yes, there's
no shortage of incompetent people in business,
either), but this presumes that the agency in
question has not been sabotaged by appointees
who were not intended to do their jobs.
                                                             SABOTAGE
It's not easy for an elected politician to
roll back popular regulations, but it is easy
to appoint people who won't enforce them very
well-- e.g. I was once talking to a building     The San Francisco planning
inspector in San Francisco who I realized was    commission seems reluctant
a fanatic libertarian (I was asking about        to actually do any planning.
smoking regulations, she responded "Think        As the Bay Guardian pointed
about your freedom!").                           out some years ago, they
                                                 will talk about how "current
                                                 thinking" is different from
                                                 the older idea of imposing
     The John Roberts Supreme                    height limits on new
     Court is arguably a high                    construction, but those
     profile example.                            "older ideas" were actually
                                                 put to popular vote in the
                                                 late 80s, and it hasn't
     So: If you want competent                   actually ever been rescinded.
     regulators, don't elect
     people who don't believe
     in appointing them.



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