Perhaps this is because of the larger power distance between the security people and the protected.
How do you measure this distance? The FDA has a monopoly, too. Here’s another theory: drug companies are a third player. Moreover, they are concentrated interests, so they affect the public choice. (Airlines play a similar role in the security theater, but their interests are more diffuse. Also, getting rid of airline security is a public good, while getting a drug approved helps one drug company relative the others.)
That’s not to say I disagree with Anders’s psychology, but I discount it because I find it harder to judge than public choice arguments.
Perhaps this is because of the larger power distance between the security people and the protected.
How do you measure this distance? The FDA has a monopoly, too. Here’s another theory: drug companies are a third player. Moreover, they are concentrated interests, so they affect the public choice. (Airlines play a similar role in the security theater, but their interests are more diffuse. Also, getting rid of airline security is a public good, while getting a drug approved helps one drug company relative the others.)
That’s not to say I disagree with Anders’s psychology, but I discount it because I find it harder to judge than public choice arguments.