:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Thursday, December 25, 2003 ::

Mad Cow
Interesting post at ProfessorBainbridge.com on: BSE and Regulation.

That:

The BSE scare provides a classic example of the necessity for and inherent failures of regulation.

also:

As a result of this information asymmetry, Gresham's law kicks in - bad products chase out good ones - and the average level of quality is inefficiently low. In addition, there is a negative externality problem. Because consumers bear the costs of food-borne diseases, ranchers and farmers lack the economic incentives to take adequate precautions. In theory, regulation addresses these failures by forcing the producers to internalize the social costs of food-borne ailments.

I was gonna mention that... you know the whole Gresham's law thing but I see its quite well put there.

I also thought it was interesting that according to one expert:

The department had been willfully blind to the threat, he said. The only reason mad cow disease had not been found here, he said, is that the department's animal inspection agency was testing too few animals.

So basicly we've had madcow and have been playing dumb by not doing our homework; something I find to be quite common with storys in regards to regulation. Why people won't put the money into the system to properly regulate i'll never know. My only question now is; does anyone know what exactly it does to humans, or is it all conjecture at this point? I'm too lazy right now to try to go hunt that info down right now...

:: Jim Nichols 12/25/2003 11:48:00 AM [+] ::
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