those interests over time.

Identifiable Winners, Anonymous Losers

A number of economic policies produce gains whose beneficiaries are easily identifiable, but costs that are

partly or entirely shared by a large number who remain anonymous. A democratic political system probably

has a bias toward those who are identifiable.

For example, policies that impose price controls—like rent control—may look as if they benefit renters and

impose costs only on landlords. However, when landlords then decide to reduce the number of rental units

available in the area, a number of people who would have liked to rent an apartment end up living somewhere

else because no units were available. These would-be renters have experienced a cost of rent control, but it is

hard to identify who they are.

Similarly, policies that block imports will benefit the firms that would have competed with those imports—and
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