The Rise of the Regulatory State

Institutional Entrepreneurship and the Decline of Markets for Blood

By Michael D. Thomas, Diana W. Thomas

The regulatory state, some writers claim, arose in response to failures of the legal system. In the case of blood markets, however, regulation came about not from public outcry caused by faulty laws and courts, but from lobbying by interest groups who expected special benefits from regulation.

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Michael D. Thomas
is an associate professor in the Economics and Finance Department at Creighton University.
Diana W. Thomas
is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute for Economic Inquiry in the Heider College of Business at Creighton University, and Co-Editor of The Independent Review: A Journal of Political Economy.