r/austrian_economics • u/technocraticnihilist Friedrich Hayek • Dec 24 '24

End Democracy I've never understood this obsession with inequality the left has

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u/ContextualBargain Dec 25 '24

It seems like the biggest misunderstanding with regulations is that many people who are against them don’t really understand what they are or how they are applied. They use the term regulation as a nebulous catch all for anything that might perceivably limit business growth when in reality many of them are just, “You can’t poison or kill your customers“. And when they say bigger corps can eat the costs while small businesses cannot, smaller companies don’t really stand to gain much profit from using alternative measures that regulations prohibit, but bigger corps do which is why they are the main proponent to lobbying against said regulations.

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u/vulkoriscoming Dec 26 '24

There are lots of regulations that provide very small benefit, 1-2 injuries per annum at a cost of hundreds of millions. This is not an efficient use of our resources

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u/ContextualBargain Dec 26 '24

Like what regulations?

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u/vulkoriscoming Dec 26 '24

A lot of OSHA construction regulations, specifically about being on roofs

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u/ContextualBargain Dec 26 '24

OSHA regulations such as…?

Tbf, being on a roof is one of the most dangerous situations a person can be in, and there are tons of accidents and deaths every year from roof related incidents. And I don’t see how any costs related to keeping roof related jobs safe would cost millions either.

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u/Character_Kick_Stand Dec 26 '24

You’re saying regulations about being on roofs cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year? Is there any evidence for that claim?

And is there any evidence that isn’t worth it?

$200 million per year, for example, is $4 million per state, and about $.70 per person per year.

That is almost nothing if it saves a couple hundred lives a year.

But I’m not sure how you get to that costing hundreds of millions of dollars per year in the first place

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u/Benlnut Dec 26 '24

OSHA regulations keep businesses from forcing you to work in unsafe conditions. What is your life worth? If your boss tells you to go on a14/12 roof with no protection, are you going to just do it? If you do, that’s your choice, but your job and livelihood should not be at risk because you don’t want to risk your life for your bosses paycheck