Regulators meant to police an industry often end up working for its benefit instead

Economist George Stigler argued in 1971 that regulatory agencies tend to be 'captured' by the very industries they're supposed to oversee, rather than serving the public interest. Industries have concentrated money and expertise to lobby regulators, while the general public, who bears the diffuse cost, rarely organizes to push back just as hard.

— George J. Stigler, The Theory of Economic Regulation — The Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science, 1971

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