William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

What is the federal bureaucracy? 463

FDA bureaucrats to devise their own procedures and regulations, there would be a

chance that the FDA could use this freedom to pursue goals that have nothing to do

with drug safety. For example, critics of the FDA’s procedures have asserted that a

drawn-out approval process is designed to favor large companies that already have

drugs on the market over smaller companies trying to get approval for drugs that would

compete with existing products.

The principal–agent game can also be framed in terms of citizens. Figure 13.1

shows that a majority of survey respondents agreed that the federal government

is typically inefficient and wasteful—although the percentage agreeing with this

assessment declined from its peak in 1994 until more recent years, when it again

increased. Such opinions give citizens a strong motivation to demand that elected

officials control the bureaucracy—to reduce the waste and inefficiency or, as the

earlier quote from Ronald Reagan suggests, to prevent bureaucrats from overly

intruding into American society.

Members of Congress and citizens are sometimes right to question the motives

of members of the bureaucracy. Sometimes bureaucratic actions are the result

of regulatory capture, which occurs when bureaucrats cater to a small group of

individuals or corporations, regardless of the impact of these actions on public welfare.

For example, until very recently the FCC allowed telecommunications companies to

charge very high rates for phone calls made by individuals in federal prisons to their

families, friends, or legal counsel. The companies have long argued to the FCC that

these rates were justified by the cost of special hardware needed to monitor prison

calls—but no one was lobbying the FCC in favor of federal prisoners, who have no

alternative but to pay what the companies charge.^9

regulatory capture

A situation in which bureaucrats

favor the interests of the groups or

corporations they are supposed to

regulate at the expense of the general

public.

FIGURE

13.1

1994

80%

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

1998 2002

Percentage

agreeing “Government is almost always wasteful and ineicient.”

56

66

2006 2010 2014 2017

How Americans

View the Federal

Bureaucracy

Many Americans believe the

bureaucracy is wasteful and inefficient.

Note, however, that the magnitude

of negative feelings varies over time.

Consider the time frame represented

on the graph. What happened during

these years that might explain the

changes in citizens’ opinions about the

government?

Source: Pew Research Center, “Majority

Continue to Say Government Is ‘Almost

Always Wasteful and Inefficient’,”

October 4, 2017, http://www.people-press.org

(accessed 8/16/18).

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