Abstract
The state—the machinery and power of the state—is a potential resource or threat to every industry in the society. With its power to prohibit or compel, to take or give money, the state can and does selectively help or hurt a vast number of industries. Regulation may be actively sought by an industry, or it may be thrust upon it. A central thesis of this paper is that, as a rule, regulation is acquired by the industry and is designed and operated primarily for its benefit. The state has one basic resource which in pure principle is not shared with even the mightiest of its citizens: the power to coerce. The state can seize money by the only method which is permitted by the laws of a civilized society, by taxation. The state can ordain the physical movements of resources and the economic decisions of households and firms without their consent.
Keywords
Economics
Related Publications
Uncertain Imitability: An Analysis of Interfirm Differences in Efficiency under Competition
Causal ambiguity inherent in the creation of productive processes is modeled by attaching an irreducible ex ante uncertainty to the level of firm efficiency that is achieved by ...
Strategic assets and organizational rent
Abstract We build on an emerging strategy literature that views the firm as a bundle of resources and capabilities, and examine conditions that contribute to the realization of ...
2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines
To align with its mission to reduce the global burden of raised blood pressure (BP), the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) has developed worldwide practice guidelines ...
Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness
How behavior and institutions are affected by social relations is one of the classic questions of social theory. This paper concerns the extent to which economic action is embed...
An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Units
Many economic researchers have attempted to measure the effect of aggregate market or public policy variables on micro units by merging aggregate data with micro observations by...
Publication Info
- Year
- 2021
- Type
- book-chapter
- Pages
- 67-81
- Citations
- 5633
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
5633
OpenAlex
31
CrossRef
Cite This
George J. Stigler
(2021).
The Theory of Economic Regulation.
The Political Economy
, 67-81.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315495811-8
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781315495811-8