Comment on Anne Fleming: Anti-Competition Regulation

In her essay “Anti-Competition Regulation,†Anne Fleming explores the history and political economy of “certificates of public convenience.†For most regulation, repression of competition is an unfortunate side effect—something to be traded off for a safer, healthier, and more equal society. But for certificates of public convenience, repression of competition is itself the goal. Free competition can yield bad results, for consumers or firms (arguments emphasize one or the other depending on the ideology of the time). Certificates cut to the heart of the problem by limiting new entry into a market only when, as one early statute put it, new entry would “promote the convenience and advantage of the community.â€