Regulations as Restrictions

In violent times
You shouldn't have to sell your soul
In black and white
They really, really ought to know
--Tears for Fears

Professor Bylund notes that regulations are restrictions--i.e. they limit behavior. Regulations can either force people to a) restrain from engaging in behavior that they would otherwise do, or b) engage in behavior that they would not otherwise do.

I stated the simple fact that #regulations are, simply, restrictions. That's not a normative statement, yet that's how people preferring to believe in unicorns apparently choose to read it. I explain the nature of regulations here: https://t.co/ZO6YlIa23z

— Per Bylund (@PerBylund) September 10, 2020

Bylund suggests that people often confuse what regulations actually do with what they believe will be the ultimate outcomes associated with implementing regulations. For example, air pollution regulations do not 'clean the air.' They restrict behavior--in this case the emission of enumerated pollutants. 

However, these restrictions do not necessarily lead to cleaner air. Forcibly limiting the emission of a certain substance might result in increased emission of a less-cost effective pollutant.

We can easily apply this notion to the regulations bundled into CV19 lockdowns. Proponents view these regulations as reducing health system burdens and mortality. In reality, the restrictions imposed by lockdowns reduce economic production and trade as well as social interaction--all of which are far more likely to increase health system load and mortality in the long run.

Stated differently, lockdown regulations thought by some to lower costs are almost certain to explode them higher.