Incumbents vs insurgents

Regulatory cholesterol reduces competition, increases inequality and hurts job creation without helping workers

Economist Joseph Schumpeter viewed relentless and brutal competition as the most important feature of capitalism because it made the economy “like a hotel that was always full but the people keep changing”. But regulatory complexity, bulk, and overreach sabotage Schumpeter’s continuously changing hotel and instead create what the Eagles’ song, Hotel California — a place where “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”. 

Regulatory cholesterol blunts competition and favours incumbents (established, large companies and connected entrepreneurs) over insurgents (start-ups, small companies, and first-generation entrepreneurs). We’d like to make the case for massive ease-of-doing business plumbing