An Equality of Poverty
Opportunity costs? That's the other guy's problem.
Drug Price Controls Mean Fewer Cures
Human beings like to see immediate results. There is a certain time horizon blindness that can distort decision making. The drugs that won’t be developed (or that will take longer to develop) because of bureaucratic interference won’t figure into our calculus down the road.
Bureaucracy kills.
‘A portent came last week from Charles River Laboratories, a top research contractor that helps drug makers with clinical trials. The company warned in its quarterly earnings report that pharmaceutical companies are slashing research and development owing to the IRA’s drug price controls.
‘“There are profound cuts” at pharmaceutical companies that reflect a “rapid deterioration” of their business, CEO James Foster said. He added: “A lot of these decisions have been taken relatively recently and probably more to come and haven’t been taken yet.” Might drug makers be hedging their investments because Democrats look more likely to hold the White House?’
How hedge funds are fighting back against the SEC’s ‘aggressive’ agenda
It seems, at least anecdotally, that there is a more confrontational relationship between regulators and their targets. Regulators are pushing for more and more expansive rules, with apparent indifference to industry opinions. Some industries have decided that the time for negotiation is short and typically wasted.
This is war.
‘Hedge funds were particularly irked by the sheer volume of new rules proposed with just a one month comment period. They pointed to a rule intended to improve transparency of the securities lending market and proposed in November 2021, despite overlapping with Thanksgiving and Christmas.’
SEC Argues That Climate Disclosure Regulation Survives Demise Of The Chevron Doctrine
SEC argues that Congress delegated authority to it to force companies to disclose their climate exposure, so Loper doesn’t apply.
They would say that, wouldn’t they? We’ll see if this works, or if the courts require more explicit delegation.
‘Specifically, the SEC argued that the demise of the Chevron doctrine was irrelevant to the mandatory climate disclosure rule, since here the SEC "act[ed] within 'the boundaries of the delegated authority,' [so that] a reviewing court 'effectuate[s] the will of Congress' by upholding the agency's exercise of that authority." In effect, the SEC adopted the position that the mandatory climate disclosure rule was within the scope of its delegated power since the SEC had "invoked core provisions of the securities laws that expressly authorize it to promulgate disclosure requirements to protect investors." Whether this broad conception of the SEC's power will be accepted by the courts is yet to be determined.’
The US should beware of regulation as retribution
China’s regulatory push under Xi includes a chilling effect on M&A, with accusations that bureaucrats manipulate the process to punish those deemed to be politically undesirable.
Isn’t this already what’s happening in the US?
‘China offers a stark warning. Its anti-monopoly law, enacted in 2008, is used in exactly this way. Chinese antitrust cases are typically resolved within government bureaucracy, where political agendas can override legal standards.’
Is Land-Use Regulation Holding Back Construction Productivity?
Land-use regulations make it difficult for homebuilders to obtain economies of scale. This caps productivity. Housing is more expensive. This is a big problem when the immigration floodgates are open.
Isn’t skepticism about organic scale driving most approaches to regulation of industry, generally?
‘The paper essentially asks whether land-use regulation for new housing affects the productivity of construction. It finds evidence that land-use regulations are restricting construction productivity, by reducing firms’ ability to exploit economies of scale. Stricter land-use regulations force builders to spread their efforts over a large number of relatively small projects, limiting the number of homes they’re able to build. This, in turn, limits their ability to invest in better homebuilding technology or otherwise take advantage of economies of scale.’