Consumer-protection laws and regulations are often rationalized on the grounds that without them the public would make uninformed or foolish choices. But the risks arising from imperfect knowledge prompt consumers and entrepreneurs to discover new ways to assure quality and safety, thus undercutting the case for government regulation.
Quality-and-Safety Assurance
How Voluntary Social Processes Remedy Their Own Shortcomings
By Daniel B. Klein
This
article
appeared in
the Spring 1998 issue of The Independent Review.
Bureaucracy and GovernmentEconomyFDA and Drug RegulationGovernment and PoliticsGovernment Waste/PorkPublic ChoiceScience and Public PolicyThe Nanny State
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