In search of bad regulations
Can anyone out there think of any good examples of regulations buggering things up? What I am looking for is clear examples of regulations doing harm rather than examples of regulations where we think they did or are doing harm.
I ask because so far I've drawn a complete blank. So far the only decent one I have come up with is Portuguese rent control which has had a disastrous impact on the housing stock. The only other example I could come up with was the 5mph limit in the UK which effectively killed off the British motor industry before it even got started. But I don't really want to use that one because that gets into the whole "car is evil" debate which I don't really want to enter just yet.
I am also not looking for outright bans like Prohibition as I think in the eyes of the general public and the neutrals who might read this site that there is a distinction.
Surely, there are a few more out there?
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I believe the FDA delayed the introduction of a particular beta blocker onto the US market by about a decade. If Americans had been allowed to use it at the same time as Europeans, about 100,000 premature deaths could have been prevented.
I believe the FDA delayed the introduction of a particular beta blocker onto the US market by about a decade. If Americans had been allowed to use it at the same time as Europeans, about 100,000 premature deaths could have been prevented.
Posted by Andy Wood on June 9, 2004