Regulation can be sortof kindof tolerable in stable, predictable, and unchanging markets. But what markets act like that? In the labor regulation world, for example, regulatory authorities are doing everything they can to kill a wave of innovation in labor markets. As I tell everyone I discuss this with — regulators picture workers as punching a time clock in a Pittsburg mill with their supervisor right there and present every moment, with an on-site HR department, and a cafeteria with huge walls for posting acres of labor posters. Try to have any other relationship with your employees, and it will be like pounding a round peg into a square regulatory hole. Even something as staggeringly beneficial to worker agency like letting remote workers schedule themselves tends to run afoul of the shift scheduling laws that are sweeping through progressive jurisdictions.
Warren Meyer, “When Regulation Hammers Those It is Supposed to Benefit — A Real Example in California”, Coyote Blog, 2021-05-06.
