This is CBS, I Am the World. I'm John Boucher. I welcome Professor Richard Epstein, a senior

fellow of the Hoover Institution. He teaches law at NYU in the University of Chicago to introduce

me and to my understanding. Everything about George Stigler who wrote an essay, the title of which

tells the story. Theory of economic regulation. It was published in 1971 and we've passed the 50th

anniversary of this essay. Richard introduces me to the fact that through these five decades I've

been unaware of its controversy. Richard, a very good evening to you. Thank you very much for this.

I'm plunging into 50 years that I miss, thanks to you. If I understand Professor Stigler's

presentation about the theory of economic regulation, the regulatory body, the administrative state,

he says that regulation has must be driven by the public good, except in instances where there's

a trade-off, for example, a fixing gasoline prices because of national security. That sort of thing.

The second thing he says is that regulation can be explained as political and by that he means

it lacks rationality so that therefore it is the product of an interest group that is not thinking

of the general good. That is a generalization about Professor Stigler, but you acquaint us in

your essay for defining ideas that there have been a range of criticisms of George Stigler all these

decades. Good evening to you, Richard. Yes, good. I mean, look, George was a good friend of mine for

about the 19 years that we overlapped at the University of Chicago and everybody who knows him

remembers not only his rather people and contributions, but his incredibly powerful wit with respect to

short-term conversation. He could put people down with a single word and I think it's probably

worth reminding that George was a genuine original. And so I was getting particularly upset at once

one day with George, not at George, but when he was in the room. And I said, this person doesn't have

the finest idea of what justice means and George just looked at me and said either. What he meant

is George was a complete schienic that there were series of independent justice that you could develop.

...