Can anyone point me to any material concerning business in the US (or elsewhere) lobbying for increased environemental, labor, or other regulation? Most assume that business lobbys to prevent these regulations from being passed, but I tend to think that many businesses with political connections want to use these things to set up barriers to competitive entry.
This contains some of that:
Excellent. Thank you. This goes right along with some other reading I have been doing on anti-trust
but I tend to think that many businesses with political connections want to use these things to set up barriers to competitive entry.
I would think that most of them prefer regulations for that reason exactly. Only certain insurance companies are considered "legitimate" by the government for some reason. Try researching some things about the cable/internet providers and whether they've lobbied to keep new companies from obtaining ISP licenses. That oligopoly is caused by the government. Not to mention the banks going along with regulations. When banks follow regulations while finding loopholes, they're able to say, "We followed your laws and still went broke. We need a bailout."
You can also look at it from the other side. Try to think of a grassroots movement for "regulation". No such thing.
Also a topic that could be relevant is Licensing Restrictions. The businesses themselves try use the government in order to restrict competitors from entering the market. Here is Rothbard teaching a Microeconomics course on the subject:
http://mises.org/media/4598
Like how here in Texas there has been some lobbying by some interior decorators (not sure what's come of it) to require interior decorators to get an interior decorating license! There was actually a protest in Austin by these people pushing for this.