To determine the optimal degree of market regulation the historic approach may be useful. This is especially clear for the financial markets. By studying history it is possible to determine where loosening of regulations has caused catastrophes like the present financial crisis. Another approach is provided by international comparison. By comparing the results of the effects of regulation in different countries, useful information about the effects of regulation may be gathered. For instance this week a columnist in my newspaper stated that the costs of healthcare, in terms of the percentage of the gross domestic product, in the United States are twice as high as in the Netherlands. This difference is explained mainly by the effect of market forces: selling as much care as possible (in the U.S.) against a price as high as possible. It is however questionable whether the quality of the healthcare is higher in the U.S. than it is in the Netherlands. One indicator of health care may be life expectancy. Anyway life expectancy in the U.S. is not higher than in the Netherlands (78,37 as to 79,68 as 2011 estimate by the CIA). The result of different approaches of the determination of optimal market regulation could be an international compendium of market regulation preferably recommended by the United Nations. The content of the compendium would of course have to be permanently refreshed based on new evidence.
Walther Micke -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
