Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

hand, these delays have caused 21,000 to 120,000 additional
deaths during the same time period. Thus, on
balance FDA regulations have resulted in between 4 and
12 deaths for every life saved.(44)
In other areas, a recent study of the effects of
the ban on adver tis ing prescr i ption drugs, which is
universally supported by the retail pharmacists' organizations,
revealed that prices in -the 34 regulated
states were 5.2 percent higher than in the 16 non-regulated
states, and may cost consumers as much as $380
mi II i on per year. (45) Another study, by Thomas Gale
Moore of Stanford University, indicated that various
reg u I a t ion s 0 f the I n t e r s tat e Comm e r ce Comm iss ion,
which are supported by both the American Trucking Associat
ion and the Teamsters Union, may cost consumers $16
billion a year.(46) And a study of television repair
Ii cens ingby the Federal Trade Commission, which compar
e d Lou i s ian a, wh i c h has rna nda tor y I icensing, wit h
California, which requires registration without restrictions
on the number of people registered, and the
District of Columbia, with no controls, revealed that
pr ices in Louisiana were a full 20 percent higher than
in ei ther Cal i fornia or the District of Co!umbia.(47)
And independent studies have estimated that licensing
restrictions and other government regUlations cost the
consumers $130 billion per year.(48) Clearly, says the
libertarian in responding to these kinds of studies,
the effect of regulations is not to reduce prices for
the benefit of consumers but, on the contrary, to raise
them for the benefit of the industries.
The 1 i ber ta r ian feels, therefore, that government
regUlation works to the benefit of the very industries
being regulated. And since there is a natural tendency
for the wealthy to use their wealth to obtain political
power, he is skeptical of proposals to reform the regulatory
commissions for the benefit of the poor. While
such reforms might prove successful in the very short
run, the bel iefthat s uchastit ua t ion can bema i n t a i n ­
ed is akin to believing that water can run uphill. The
interests of consumers, Milton Friedman notes, "are diverse
and diffuse. You buy a thousand things, but you
make your living producing a single product...When
the chips are down, your willingness to promote your
interest as a consumer of a thousand things will be far
less than your willingness to engage in something that
wi 11 promote your interest as a producer." Consequent­
1y, areg u 1a tor y c omm iss ion may bees tab 1ishe d wit h the
intent ion of protecting the consumers. But, "after the
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