Moral crusaders and profiteers often lobby for the same law

Economist Bruce Yandle noticed that Sunday alcohol-sales bans survived because two very different groups backed them: Baptists who wanted alcohol restricted on moral grounds, and bootleggers who profited from being the only sellers left open. His 'bootleggers and Baptists' theory argues that durable regulation usually passes this way — a vocal moral case providing cover for a quiet economic interest.

— Bruce Yandle, Bootleggers and Baptists – The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Regulation magazine, 1983