Regulatory capture
Definition
When a regulatory agency created to police an industry in the public interest instead comes to serve that industry's interests, through lobbying, campaign contributions, revolving-door staffing, or years of hearing mainly the industry's side of technical questions.
Why it matters
Capture does not require bribery. It can happen gradually as regulators absorb industry framing of what counts as safe, fair, or reasonable, or as agencies become dependent on the regulated industry for technical expertise and future employment. The result is enforcement that looks procedurally normal while systematically favoring the regulated over the public.
Seen in the wild
The Interstate Commerce Commission, created in 1887 to protect farmers and shippers from railroad monopolies, was by the 1920s widely seen as protecting the railroads' rate structures instead. More recently, the FDA's 2021 approval of the Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm over its own advisory committee's objections, amid close ties between agency staff and manufacturer Biogen, renewed capture concerns and prompted a congressional investigation.1