Rent Seeking 101: Its for the children

The toy makers that brought you the lead tainted toy scare have now gotten an exemption from the very the regulation that their malfeasance occasioned. Mattel toy company will not have to send its toys to be tested by third parties but will be allowed to use its own labs in Mexico and elsewhere. Small domestic manufactures of everything from books to clothes for kids will have to bear this burdensome expense while the big companies that caused the problem will get around it. Indeed, they profit from having another barrier to entry set up against their competitors. The most wretched rent-seeking schemes so often seem to involve children.