Bureaucracy

Whether there have to be single-use oil canisters on European restaurant tables or not may not be the biggest question for the world economy today. But to watch the European Union dealing with it in such an overly-bureaucratic way, one may well be concerned for the future of the European economy – not just in olive-growing countries. […]

Once we figure out the actual cost of red tape, we can issue red tape certificates to government departments. And here is the trick: Just like environmental pollution certificates, red tape certificates for government departments would be set at levels lower than their current level of pollution. […]

For many years now, trading schemes have been used as mechanisms to reduce environmental pollution. The principal idea behind such schemes is that they allow emissions to be cut where it is least costly. A similar idea could be applied in the area of better regulation. […]

WHAT do carbon emissions and red tape have in common? They are both unwanted by-products. Carbon emissions result from the use of energy, whereas red tape is caused by regulation. Since both of them are a kind of pollution, there is no reason we should treat them differently. […]

Where there is huge complexity, there should also be the greatest desire to cut it back. So perhaps it’s only natural that the most interesting way of reducing the costs of regulation originated right in the heart of Europe, in the Netherlands. […]

Bekanntlich wurde England in grauer Vorzeit von den Angeln und den Sachsen besiedelt. Nach neuesten Erkenntnissen müssen sich unter den Einwanderern aller­dings auch Schildbürger befunden haben, denn im Laufe seiner Geschichte – und vom Rest der Welt beinahe unbemerkt – hat sich Großbritannien zu einer Hochburg der Bürokratie entwickelt. […]