externalities and pollution—the problem called regulatory capture (which we defined in Monopoly and

Antitrust Policy). In legislative bodies and agencies that write laws and regulations about how much

corporations will pay in taxes, or rules for safety in the workplace, or instructions on how to satisfy
environmental regulations, you can be sure the specific industry affected has lobbyists who study every word
and every comma. They talk with the legislators who are writing the legislation and suggest alternative

wording. They contribute to the campaigns of legislators on the key committees—and may even offer those

legislators high-paying jobs after they have left office. As a result, it often turns out that those regulated can

exercise considerable influence over the regulators.

LINK IT UP

Visit this website (http://openstax.org/l/lobbying) to read about lobbying.

In the early 2000s, about 40 million people in the United States were eligible for Medicare, a government
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