Didn't downvote but I figure I should better support it if someone actually cared enough to criticize...
From a trade policy perspective alone we have plenty of supporting evidence among developed countries of self-serving policymaking. Ha-Joon Chang, economist at Cambridge, has written several books criticizing neoclassical economics policies commonly used by both left and right wing policy makers across many developed economies including one literally called "Kicking Away the Ladder" describing how an alarming trend for developing countries to make trade and domestic economic policies that close off tools these countries used themselves to grow their economies. A recent case of not following conventional policies and playing into the hands of the ultra wealthy is Iceland following their real estate collapse and now subsequent rebuilding on their terms as suggested by economist Michael Hudson, another critic of neoclassical economic policies.
Regulatory capture is one of several by-products of cronyism and an oligarchical rather than impartial, equal opportunity system but even in a toy case study in sports there is clear evidence of bias with regulatory experience http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/coep.12240/abstra... If there's policymaking and enforcement bias over time in something with as little consequence as sports but also certainly fiscal motivators (for teams, NHL Commission, etc) it would be strange if our government policies would be exempt from the same human dynamics that is specifically meant by those with hidden information to stay obscure and hidden. But not a whole lot of grant funding out there to investigate corruption exactly, so rigorous academic research on corruption, regulatory capture, and other perversions of capitalist society is sparse, oftentimes difficult to get solid data, and thus difficult to cite in a random Internet comment to the satisfaction of pedantic critics that react to defend any assailment of the much-maligned wealthy.
I'll omit the studies showing those with wealthier backgrounds showing tendencies toward far more loose ideas of lawfulness and fairness compared to the general population.
Also, I wrote it partly tongue-in-cheek in tone responding to a potentially more inflammatory, generalized, presumptuous comment and somehow that was ignored?
I wrote that comment when I was really tired and went too far trying to make a point. I apologize for the flippant-tone, it was completely unnecessary. Thanks.
From a trade policy perspective alone we have plenty of supporting evidence among developed countries of self-serving policymaking. Ha-Joon Chang, economist at Cambridge, has written several books criticizing neoclassical economics policies commonly used by both left and right wing policy makers across many developed economies including one literally called "Kicking Away the Ladder" describing how an alarming trend for developing countries to make trade and domestic economic policies that close off tools these countries used themselves to grow their economies. A recent case of not following conventional policies and playing into the hands of the ultra wealthy is Iceland following their real estate collapse and now subsequent rebuilding on their terms as suggested by economist Michael Hudson, another critic of neoclassical economic policies.
Regulatory capture is one of several by-products of cronyism and an oligarchical rather than impartial, equal opportunity system but even in a toy case study in sports there is clear evidence of bias with regulatory experience http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/coep.12240/abstra... If there's policymaking and enforcement bias over time in something with as little consequence as sports but also certainly fiscal motivators (for teams, NHL Commission, etc) it would be strange if our government policies would be exempt from the same human dynamics that is specifically meant by those with hidden information to stay obscure and hidden. But not a whole lot of grant funding out there to investigate corruption exactly, so rigorous academic research on corruption, regulatory capture, and other perversions of capitalist society is sparse, oftentimes difficult to get solid data, and thus difficult to cite in a random Internet comment to the satisfaction of pedantic critics that react to defend any assailment of the much-maligned wealthy.
I'll omit the studies showing those with wealthier backgrounds showing tendencies toward far more loose ideas of lawfulness and fairness compared to the general population.
Also, I wrote it partly tongue-in-cheek in tone responding to a potentially more inflammatory, generalized, presumptuous comment and somehow that was ignored?