To me, this is like saying social engineering isn't a security problem.
It seems pretty obvious that, if your aim is to accumulate capital, regulatory capture is a pretty damn efficient strategy as compared to marketing or product development. It's also efficient for the government official, who gets to sell access to regulation processes (an otherwise difficult-to-sell service!) at market rates.
(Not that libertarian-style "OK, let's get rid of governments!" approaches are a good solution here. In that case, the optimal strategy becomes force, which in effect establishes a government of sorts.)
It seems pretty obvious that, if your aim is to accumulate capital, regulatory capture is a pretty damn efficient strategy as compared to marketing or product development. It's also efficient for the government official, who gets to sell access to regulation processes (an otherwise difficult-to-sell service!) at market rates.
(Not that libertarian-style "OK, let's get rid of governments!" approaches are a good solution here. In that case, the optimal strategy becomes force, which in effect establishes a government of sorts.)