Regulatory capture is not the only way FDA harms innovation
I think this is a good point in time for everyone to revisit the excellent economics research done in the 60s and the 70s in response to increased regulation in all aspects of life.
In regard to the FDA, Sam Peltzman's seminal article shows variety and innovation suffered after the introduction of the FDA.
Also, bureaucrats' incentives are rarely aligned with the our incentives (whether we are producers or consumers). The biggest motivator for a bureaucrat is CYA: They will always err more on the side of failing to approve a drug/treatment/device that is safe and effective rather than approving a drug/treatment/device that may turn out not to be safe or effective. Who can forget AIDS patients being denied experimental drugs in the 80s? --apparently, many.
Both of these types of errors will happen when decisions are made in the face of uncertainty. There is a trade off between the two types of errors. You cannot have a process designed and run by people whose sole motivation is to avoid trouble that is not biased heavily towards shooting down promising, unconventional approaches while overreacting to every risk. Has anyone asked how many chickens were burned alive during the height of the bird flu craziness? How about the economic loss from swine flu?
CYA is the bureaucrat modus operandi. It leads to the current state of the TSA. It leads to all sorts of consumer protection agencies actually decreasing consumer welfare by limiting choice. Shareholders of drug companies do not want their customers to die and shareholders of airlines do not want their planes to be taken over by terrorists. Until we understand that, there cannot be sane regulation.
By the way, regulatory capture by producers is a fairly week explanation of why economic regulation exists mostly outside of the areas where economic reasoning might indicate that it might actually increase social welfare. I would recommend another Peltzman classic, Toward a More General Theory of Regulation to understand better how regulators and politicians behave.
This is standard fare from City Planners ("thou shalt live according to our tastes!")
According to these people, the benefit to you from being able to drive to a store and buy a replacement window, put it in the back of your truck, drive back home and replace the window is the same as you walking to the store, carrying the window on your back all the way home, replacing it and then croaking on the spot from heat exhaustion. After all, in both cases, you got a new window.
If there were no parking spaces at the mall, people might walk or take public transportation to the mall. The fact is, though, looking at places where cars and parking spaces were not abundant before and malls are just beginning to pop up (say, Ankara, Turkey) it looks like most people are made happier by being able to drive to the mall, even if Marxist City Planners don't want them to be.
But even if it is managed by a dictator who, without consideration for the wishes of the public, enforces what he deems best, who clothes, feeds, and houses the people as he sees fit, there is no assurance that he will do what appears proper to "us."
The critics of the capitalistic order always seem to believe that the socialistic system of their dreams will do precisely what they think correct. While they may not always count on becoming dictators themselves, they are hoping that the dictator will not act without first seeking their advice. Thus they arrive at the popular contrast of productivity and profitability.
They call "productive" those economic actions they deem correct. And because things may be different at times they reject the capitalistic order which is guided by profitability and the wishes of consumers, the true masters of markets and production.
They forget that a dictator, too, may act differently from their wishes, and that there is no assurance that he will really try for the "best," and, even if he should seek it, that he should find the way to the "best."
Although the elements of a per se tying violation have been articulated differently, courts generally require that:
(1) two separate products or services are involved, (2) the sale or agreement to sell one is conditioned on the purchase of the other, (3) the seller has sufficient economic power in the market for the tying product to enable it to restrain trade in the market for the tied product, and (4) a not insubstantial amount of interstate commerce in the tied product is affected.(23)
Regarding (1): A paper dispenser and paper that goes into it are separate products.
Regarding (2): GP is trying to require that someone who buys a GP paper dispenser must buy GP paper.
Regarding (3) and (4): Don't know. But, I am assuming GP is a major player in both markets, nationally.
They are trying to get around the per se rule by pretending this is not a restraint on trade but protection of people who is use restrooms in their clients' locations. It is certainly a creative way to try to create market power in the market for a generic good.
That seems to me to be a per se violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act:
Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, to lease or make a sale or contract for sale of goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies, or other commodities, whether patented or unpatented, for use, consumption, or resale within the United States or any Territory thereof or the District of Columbia or any insular possession or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States, or fix a price charged therefor, or discount from, or rebate upon, such price, on the condition, agreement, or understanding that the lessee or purchaser thereof shall not use or deal in the goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies, or other commodities of a competitor or competitors of the lessor or seller, where the effect of such lease, sale, or contract for sale or such condition, agreement, or understanding may be to substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce.
However, as noted on page 26 of the decision, von Drehle failed to pursue this.
People need to be compensated for things they don't like or things that do not provide an intangible benefit to them.
Sometimes, people end up being paid to do what we like. Or, end up being paid to do things we like for people we like.
It takes a higher monetary compensation to convince people to do things they do not like, things they diminish their reputation or to do things for bosses whom they do not like.
How about each purchase has a serial number. You get 30 minutes for each purchase. As long as you buy things the wifi is free. Seems fair?
Fair's got absolutely zilch to do with it. Once the equipment is installed, the marginal cost of an extra unit of Wi-Fi service is zero. Therefore, the optimal hourly price of Wi-Fi in the store is also zero.
Consumers still value it, enabling you to charge more than you would others be able to.
As for music, musicians may want to pay coffee shops for playing their music if coffee shops agree to tell customers whose music is being broadcast.
First, the `http//&hellip was my attempt to type http//…. I forgot the ; at the end, illustrating the perils of lack of proof-reading.
More to the point, however, why would a staff-member be checking the links? Before deploying a web site like that, you must first try a test version. One of the tests you must do is to have spider go through the site and make sure all your paylinks work. None of this, entering story URLs or checking their validity is a job for a human.
The outer http:// is added by the browser. Whoever wrote the URL seems to have done it by hand and written http//&hellip which turns the full URL into a relative path starting in the http sub-directory in the current directory.
I cannot understand how and why they would be typing full URLs by hand. Obviously, the http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ part is a constant.
"Türkiye'nin Youtube'u yasaklayan, Google'a erişimi engelleyen ülke kategorisinde olmasını tasvip etmem. Bu konuda yasal yollar bulunmalı."
My translation:
I do not approve of Turkey being in the same category as other countries banning Youtube and preventing access to Google. Regarding this, legal avenues must be found.
The roots of these issues go back to the mid 90s when a whole bunch of new broadcast regulations were written. I have a little inside knowledge of the process, and it wasn't pretty. The current government, despite whatever other faults it might have, does not have a lot to do with how you can get a court order banning web sites for "anti-Turkish" content.
every time some high powered executive failed to grasp the downward sloping demand curve and what availability of close substitutes does to the demand curve for a specific product.
Keep in mind that the only substitute for seeing 3D movies is not a 3D setup at home.
It is sad that a lot more people take this sort of thing seriously when the claim is that the economic and technological progress since the industrial revolution is causing an increase in cancer etc.
Tax season is frustrating for an entirely different reason
So, everyone, thank Intuit for making tax season that much more frustrating.
That is nonsense. Please just advocate simplification of the tax code(s).
So long as the rules are complicated, there will be no shortage of people trying to make a buck taking advantage of that.
Simple problem with receiving a pre-filled tax form: How do you fix an error? I bet it will be more difficult than fixing an erroneous or even disputed charge on a credit card.
The Coase theorem states that, in the absence of transactions costs (e.g. (and possibly i.e.) lawyers), the assignment of property rights (so long as they are well defined) does not matter in terms of the market leading to an efficient level of provision of the good which is the source of the externality.
Except for those intrinsically motivated to investigate some issue, the goal of academics is to get published and get cited. The more frequently cited you are, the better your chances at getting published at better journals and the better your chances of getting cited.
Re: Re: I do not have any obligation to pay for others' broadband access
I do feel the same way about rural postal service (I do believe the USPS should not have a monopoly on anything).
The same applies to the all other rural utilities.
As I remind people, there were schools waaaaaay before there were government schools. People have a way of solving problems for themselves much more effectively than a distant government office.
Re: Re: Re: Re: I do not have any obligation to pay for others' broadband access
Anonymous Coward asks:
> Are you stupid?
No I am not. It seems, however, you cannot read. I said current farmers. If all current farmers decided to stop farming, no one would starve because new farmers would take their places. This is pretty elementary.
The economically relevant criterion is never whether this or that subsidy does any good at all. For everything, even heroin addiction, provides some benefits.
The economically relevant criterion is whether the benefits from providing service to this area exceed the cost of providing that service.
Please do read the story of the $47,000 land line (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/national/01phone.html). Of course, those people in the bayou now enjoy being able to call their neighbors. Was it worth it? Absolutely not.
My experience and intuition tell me the $47,000 land line will be more representative of this whole broadband subsidy deal. There is no economically valid reason for there to be broadband access everywhere in the U.S.
On the post: FDA's Pharma-First Focus Driving Medical Device Tech Away From The US
Re: Regulatory capture is not the only way FDA harms innovation
I meant to write "after the introduction of the effectiveness requirement". Need more coffee.
-- Sinan
On the post: FDA's Pharma-First Focus Driving Medical Device Tech Away From The US
Regulatory capture is not the only way FDA harms innovation
In regard to the FDA, Sam Peltzman's seminal article shows variety and innovation suffered after the introduction of the FDA.
Also, bureaucrats' incentives are rarely aligned with the our incentives (whether we are producers or consumers). The biggest motivator for a bureaucrat is CYA: They will always err more on the side of failing to approve a drug/treatment/device that is safe and effective rather than approving a drug/treatment/device that may turn out not to be safe or effective. Who can forget AIDS patients being denied experimental drugs in the 80s? --apparently, many.
Both of these types of errors will happen when decisions are made in the face of uncertainty. There is a trade off between the two types of errors. You cannot have a process designed and run by people whose sole motivation is to avoid trouble that is not biased heavily towards shooting down promising, unconventional approaches while overreacting to every risk. Has anyone asked how many chickens were burned alive during the height of the bird flu craziness? How about the economic loss from swine flu?
CYA is the bureaucrat modus operandi. It leads to the current state of the TSA. It leads to all sorts of consumer protection agencies actually decreasing consumer welfare by limiting choice. Shareholders of drug companies do not want their customers to die and shareholders of airlines do not want their planes to be taken over by terrorists. Until we understand that, there cannot be sane regulation.
By the way, regulatory capture by producers is a fairly week explanation of why economic regulation exists mostly outside of the areas where economic reasoning might indicate that it might actually increase social welfare. I would recommend another Peltzman classic, Toward a More General Theory of Regulation to understand better how regulators and politicians behave.
On the post: Is Free Parking Costing Us Billions?
Just what one would have expected
According to these people, the benefit to you from being able to drive to a store and buy a replacement window, put it in the back of your truck, drive back home and replace the window is the same as you walking to the store, carrying the window on your back all the way home, replacing it and then croaking on the spot from heat exhaustion. After all, in both cases, you got a new window.
If there were no parking spaces at the mall, people might walk or take public transportation to the mall. The fact is, though, looking at places where cars and parking spaces were not abundant before and malls are just beginning to pop up (say, Ankara, Turkey) it looks like most people are made happier by being able to drive to the mall, even if Marxist City Planners don't want them to be.
See http://blog.qtau.com/2010/05/deceptive-lure-of-tyranny.html
Here is some Mises:
On the post: If You Don't Get The Matching Brand Paper Towel Out Of A Dispenser In A Restroom... Is That Trademark Infringement?
I thought this was settled
See http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/hearings/ip/chapter_5.htm#ii
Regarding (1): A paper dispenser and paper that goes into it are separate products.
Regarding (2): GP is trying to require that someone who buys a GP paper dispenser must buy GP paper.
Regarding (3) and (4): Don't know. But, I am assuming GP is a major player in both markets, nationally.
They are trying to get around the per se rule by pretending this is not a restraint on trade but protection of people who is use restrooms in their clients' locations. It is certainly a creative way to try to create market power in the market for a generic good.
That seems to me to be a per se violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act:
And the Clayton Act:
However, as noted on page 26 of the decision, von Drehle failed to pursue this.
I think it is a missed opportunity.
On the post: Newsweek Insists People Don't Do Stuff For Free... And Then Shows Why People Do Stuff For Free
People do do things without monetary compensation
Sometimes, people end up being paid to do what we like. Or, end up being paid to do things we like for people we like.
It takes a higher monetary compensation to convince people to do things they do not like, things they diminish their reputation or to do things for bosses whom they do not like.
These are simple facts.
-- Sinan
On the post: Starbucks Finally Realizies That Free WiFi Is The Way To Go
Re: Starbucks coffee is horrible...
On the post: Starbucks Finally Realizies That Free WiFi Is The Way To Go
Re: Re: Each purchase gets you 30 minutes Wi-Fi
That was supposed to be enabling you to charge more than you would otherwise be able to.
On the post: Starbucks Finally Realizies That Free WiFi Is The Way To Go
Re: Each purchase gets you 30 minutes Wi-Fi
Fair's got absolutely zilch to do with it. Once the equipment is installed, the marginal cost of an extra unit of Wi-Fi service is zero. Therefore, the optimal hourly price of Wi-Fi in the store is also zero.
Consumers still value it, enabling you to charge more than you would others be able to.
As for music, musicians may want to pay coffee shops for playing their music if coffee shops agree to tell customers whose music is being broadcast.
On the post: Dear Rupert: Before Putting Up A Paywall, It Helps To Have Your Staff Check The HTML
Re: Someone forgot a colon after the http
More to the point, however, why would a staff-member be checking the links? Before deploying a web site like that, you must first try a test version. One of the tests you must do is to have spider go through the site and make sure all your paylinks work. None of this, entering story URLs or checking their validity is a job for a human.
On the post: Dear Rupert: Before Putting Up A Paywall, It Helps To Have Your Staff Check The HTML
Someone forgot a colon after the http
I cannot understand how and why they would be typing full URLs by hand. Obviously, the http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ part is a constant.
On the post: Turkish President Uses Twitter To Complain About His Own Gov't's Censorship Of Google
Turkish President on Twitter
He said:
My translation:
The roots of these issues go back to the mid 90s when a whole bunch of new broadcast regulations were written. I have a little inside knowledge of the process, and it wasn't pretty. The current government, despite whatever other faults it might have, does not have a lot to do with how you can get a court order banning web sites for "anti-Turkish" content.
Censorship in Turkey was not born yesterday.
On the post: Hollywood Seeks To Kill Off 3D Golden Goose With Much Higher Prices
I wish I got a dollar
Keep in mind that the only substitute for seeing 3D movies is not a 3D setup at home.
On the post: Syphilis (Or Was It Facebook?) Blamed For People Not Understanding That Correlation Does Not Mean Causation
Not the first time, not the last time
On the post: Intuit Lobbying The Government To Make It More Difficult To File Your Tax Returns
Tax season is frustrating for an entirely different reason
That is nonsense. Please just advocate simplification of the tax code(s).
So long as the rules are complicated, there will be no shortage of people trying to make a buck taking advantage of that.
Simple problem with receiving a pre-filled tax form: How do you fix an error? I bet it will be more difficult than fixing an erroneous or even disputed charge on a credit card.
On the post: Should Data Collected For Academic Research Get Intellectual Property Protection?
What does the Coase Theorem have to do with this?
Except for those intrinsically motivated to investigate some issue, the goal of academics is to get published and get cited. The more frequently cited you are, the better your chances at getting published at better journals and the better your chances of getting cited.
However, in the presence of large amounts of public monies being allocated to an individual discipline, the temptation of forming a monopsony can prove overwhelming. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541004575010931344004278.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_Above LEFTTop
On the post: CenturyLink Won't Provide DSL, Wants To Block Competitor From Getting Fed Funds To Offer Wireless
Re: Re: I do not have any obligation to pay for others' broadband access
The same applies to the all other rural utilities.
As I remind people, there were schools waaaaaay before there were government schools. People have a way of solving problems for themselves much more effectively than a distant government office.
On the post: CenturyLink Won't Provide DSL, Wants To Block Competitor From Getting Fed Funds To Offer Wireless
Re: Re: Re: Re: I do not have any obligation to pay for others' broadband access
> Are you stupid?
No I am not. It seems, however, you cannot read. I said current farmers. If all current farmers decided to stop farming, no one would starve because new farmers would take their places. This is pretty elementary.
On the post: CenturyLink Won't Provide DSL, Wants To Block Competitor From Getting Fed Funds To Offer Wireless
Re: Wow
The economically relevant criterion is whether the benefits from providing service to this area exceed the cost of providing that service.
Please do read the story of the $47,000 land line (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/national/01phone.html). Of course, those people in the bayou now enjoy being able to call their neighbors. Was it worth it? Absolutely not.
My experience and intuition tell me the $47,000 land line will be more representative of this whole broadband subsidy deal. There is no economically valid reason for there to be broadband access everywhere in the U.S.
On the post: CenturyLink Won't Provide DSL, Wants To Block Competitor From Getting Fed Funds To Offer Wireless
Re: Re: I do not have any obligation to pay for others' broadband access
People are free to choose not to farm. It might be hard to swallow, but no one is going to starve if all current farmers stopped farming.
And that has provided us with more food than was imaginable throughout the entire history of humankind.
On the post: CenturyLink Won't Provide DSL, Wants To Block Competitor From Getting Fed Funds To Offer Wireless
Re: I tend to leave it to the business to decide what will improve their profits
If a business makes the "wrong" decisions vis-à-vis products and service, it will driven out of the market.
... Uhm, except, of course, if they are, a-hem, regulated and subsidized by the government.