Andean
Cocaine is another work that shows how government forges and breaks many of
the links in the commodity chain.
James has already noted how big businesses were involved in the drafting
of progressive legislation, and also noted Kolko’s political capitalism thesis
that they actually originated this intervention. Especially pertinent to this is Gootenberg’s discussion of
the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which might be a good example of regulatory
capture.
Regulatory capture, instead of
contending that businesses originated progressive reforms, proposes that people
from within regulated industry gain influence over the bureaucracy. Gootenberg notes how the Federal Bureau
of Narcotics interacted with the industry they were supposedly regulating, and
the informal advice moved in both directions. For example, on pages one hundred and ninety-seven and on hundred
and ninety-eight, he discusses the “personal and political relationship” of the
head of the FBN, Harry Anslinger, with Merck and Maywood. There are other examples, from this
era, especially Koklo’s book on the Interstate Commerce Commission, which shows
how the commission was used by the railroads to key out competition and
maintain high rates. I am a bit
more familiar with the ICC from the 1920s to the 1970s, when the commission
used its powers to limit competition from tractor-trailer trucking and enforce
racial segregation. Regulatory
capture is a bit easier to find evidence for than that informal relations
between legislators and big business, but sometimes both are difficult to see
because of the tendency to focus on the social movements to regulate, rather
than the regulators they create.
During this semester we have occasionally
discussed the differences between popular works and scholarly works, and
debated were the bounds actually lie.
However, this is the first book that so clearly stakes a position on the
matter. Indeed, Gootenberg seems
to be motivated by the purported inadequacies of popular histories of drugs.
I think it is great that James and Joseph are sharing interesting texts that relate to some of the content in Gootenberg’s book. My area of concentration at GMU has been European history not American history. I am glad to learn about books about American history that I should read.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joseph that the relationship between a regulated agency and the regulators, referred to as regulatory capture, is one of influence that occurs over time. These corporate and government entities are made up of people. The book noted below describes how the US Post Office actively promoted the airline industry after WWI in hopes that it would provide planes to carry US mail. In 1934 the Air Mail Act placed oversight of aviation under the Interstate Commerce Commission. Influence flowed both ways. Van der Linden emphasizes that US commitment to private enterprise and public regulation could result in regulatory capture. But it is not always, or usually, absolute. And it changes over time. After using United Fruit during WWII, the government turned on them.
F. Robert van der Linden, Airlines and Air Mail: The Post Office and the Birth of the Commercial Aviation Industry. The University Press of Kentucky, 2002.
I think the comments by James and Joseph demonstrate that Gootenberg’s book is as much about the US as it is about Peru.
Carol, since you are specializing in European history, you might want to look at this article on the Continent's economic development.
ReplyDeletehttp://mises.org/daily/2404