Re: Clipper chip column analogy ruminations
Topics: Regulation
25 Jun 1994
From: ervan
It's difficult for me to complete your thinking. In the realms of
computer standards, the government tried to impose Ada. You know that
story as well as I do. Fortunately, the government has not imposed
too many constraints on the computer industry (no doubt responsible
for its quick growth). On a slightly different technological tack,
the FCC is notorious for holding up technology. Cellular phones were
delayed 10 years while they diddled. HDTV has been derailed by FCC
concerns. The wiring of our homes with high bandwidth is largely
prevvented by the FCC waiting for a politically correct proposal to
come along. (as I have mentioned in other forums there is an irony in
the government imposing the Trip Reducation Act on us when its own
policies are greatly responsible for extra trips). Try and get a new
kind of phone service past the PUC too.
Though it may be too far afield, the economic analogy that comes first to mind
are local building codes and union monopolies. When building codes are imposed
they generally codify the prevailing wisdom. The problems are:
1) If the prevailing standard is too 'good' for your shed, you are screwed.
2) There is only supplier, the local (government protected) union which
gets to charge outragoues prices.
3) New competition, on price, availability, or quality, is prevented.
4) Innovation is DOA, i.e. the codes don't stay 'good'. There was a good
piece in Reason a few months ago about a company with a new kind of
plastic water pipe that was cheaper to buy, cheaper to lay, and lasted
longer than conventional copper alternatives. The local plumbers union
lobbied the state (of CA) to prevent its use (because it would have been
less make-work for them). The plumbers won the first round.
---Ervan
Home