Product Safety: An Economic View

Economists are the intellectual sons of Adam Smith and his suspicion of government interference in free markets. (Smith is reported to have been a hit paranoid about what he saw as the King's policies to increase the prices of the goods he consumed. especially port.) Only someone who spends his time studying the U.S. economy can begin to grasp what a colossal engine we have working for us. with little government help (indeed, some would say in spite of the government), more than 81000 billion of good, and services are produced each year. The U.S. record for sustained growth and increased income is unmatched by any other economy that has existed. One might well start with a bit of skepticism as to why product safety must be regulated, rather than left to the free market.