Regulatory Agencies Cannot be Controlled by Requirements of Interior Rationality
21st March 2011
The problem with the critiques is that the underlying assumptions are wrong. They are based on what has been called “the transmission belt theory” of regulation, which is that Congress sets forth a need and the parameters of a delegation to an expert agency. The agency then acts as the expert problem solver for Congress, analyzing the alternatives and decreeing the pro bono publico that our worthy solons would require if only they had the time. Regulatory analysis is a way to systematize and facilitate this pursuit.
Any resemblance between this model and the real world is strictly coincidental. Regulation is the continuation of political and budgetary wars by other means. Agencies are created because of a kernel of public need, and some concern for the public interest is usually somewhere in the mix of motives. But they are also captured by ideological and economic interests, which then use them to promote the ideology and the economic interests of the constituents.
Not really news, but a useful reminder.
March 23rd, 2011 at 07:51
And all this time I thought regulatory agencies were just vehicles to suck up tax dollars and provide union jobs to Democratic contributors. I learn something new every day.