My rebuttal to Per Bylund's libertarian case for why regulation is making the Covid19 crisis worse.
Yes, there are multiple examples of bad laws/regs creating unnecessary obstacles, but deregulation is a partial answer.
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Yes, there are multiple examples of bad laws/regs creating unnecessary obstacles, but deregulation is a partial answer.
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1) US is still ranked among the easiest nations to do business in. Here's one of many methodologies w/that conclusion: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ease_of_d…
2) At the end of the crisis we'll have the stats on whether more regulated economies responded better than less regulated ones.
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2) At the end of the crisis we'll have the stats on whether more regulated economies responded better than less regulated ones.
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3) Most independent labs do not have the resources, global network, or expertise to aggregate global data on the virus & coordinate methods with multiple countries without creating utter chaos. A hub & spoke model *should be* far more efficient.
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4) This is libertarian boilerplate: "entrepreneurs would compete to provide the best solution possible..". This fails badly on 3 criteria: scale, uncertainty of return & long duration. I did a DEEP DIVE on it in this podcast: ideafaktory.com/health3
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5) Public safety is a natural monopoly most entrepreneurs won't touch. If they did, many who can't afford it, wouldn't get it. It's why we need China to make essential generic drugs-they're not profitable. (Yes, some can be done w/govt subsidies.)
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6) Using one (or even 5) obvious, badly written, inflexible regulation that can be easily fixed or overridden is still anecdotal. Hardly enough to hold up a "Regulations make economies function poorly" argument.
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7) People are repurposing/adapting. Bigger problem exposed is short-sightedness. As w/bank reserves or retail, private hospitals keep just-in-time inventories. Here's a case for mandatory communal/central emergency stockpiles, inconsistent w/profit motive.
8) The argument for decentralization may be great for some things and theoretically, but it hurts response times in the same way democracy moves way slower than autocracy. Crises are wars. They demand decisiveness, coordination & execution not a bunch of soldiers doing improv.
9) Culture decides the level/quality of regulation, systems & leaders in companies & nations alike. There are no deregulated nations, maybe Malawi or Afghanistan. So *our* solution must be smarter regulation, adaptability & better management.
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