And to elaborate on this, wealthy societies &quot;buy&quot; all sorts of things via regulation that can&#x27;t be directly purchased.<p>Americans &quot;buy&quot; consumer safety by enacting regulations that reduce competition and increase overhead costs.<p>Americans &quot;buy&quot; food safety by having government inspections and paperwork regulations that track supply chains in order to recall contaminated foods more quickly.<p>Americans &quot;buy&quot; clean air and water by enacting pollution controls which raise prices.<p>Americans &quot;buy&quot; fewer highway deaths by having lots of safety regulations on cars and putting up considerable trade barriers to imports (want to import a VW California to California? It&#x27;s unlikely).<p>Most western countries &quot;buy&quot; the same things. I suspect everyone wants these things but not every country is rich enough to &quot;buy&quot; them. And it&#x27;s easy to fixate on the costs of these things (and yes, sometimes regulations go too far or the costs outweigh the benefits) and ignore the benefits, which mostly benefit a different set of people than those who bear the direct costs. But in the end all of these things are &quot;bought&quot; by distorting markets via regulation.