Everyone agrees on that fact. But the relevant question, when I’m deciding whether it would be good on net to regulate an industry, is whether the jobs in a state of economic nature (bargained down in terms of wages and working conditions to just better than the marginal employee’s best alternative) are worse for the general welfare than the regulated jobs (and the associated economic tradeoffs) would be.
Sometimes regulation is clearly a win for society (like the workplace safety regulations in the US following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and other disasters), sometimes it’s clearly a net loss (the Greek pension system is one of the things bankrupting the country), and sometimes it’s hard to tell. But there’s an actual tradeoff in consequences, and the optimal amount of regulation is not zero in all cases.
I didn’t argue that the amount of regulation was zero in all cases. I don’t think may people really believe that, and the argument amounts to a straw man. Only that if a job market didn’t exist, the people working in that job market would be worse off.
Everyone agrees on that fact. But the relevant question, when I’m deciding whether it would be good on net to regulate an industry, is whether the jobs in a state of economic nature (bargained down in terms of wages and working conditions to just better than the marginal employee’s best alternative) are worse for the general welfare than the regulated jobs (and the associated economic tradeoffs) would be.
Sometimes regulation is clearly a win for society (like the workplace safety regulations in the US following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and other disasters), sometimes it’s clearly a net loss (the Greek pension system is one of the things bankrupting the country), and sometimes it’s hard to tell. But there’s an actual tradeoff in consequences, and the optimal amount of regulation is not zero in all cases.
Related: The Non-Libertarian FAQ, or Why I Hate Your Freedom
I didn’t argue that the amount of regulation was zero in all cases. I don’t think may people really believe that, and the argument amounts to a straw man. Only that if a job market didn’t exist, the people working in that job market would be worse off.