Too Many Laws?

Like any other country, India has a huge number of laws. And as all of us know, most of them never get enforced. Others get enforced only once in a while. We tend to blame that on laziness, mindset and corruption.

Alex Tabarrok and Shruti Rajagopalan argue the reason could be different. They point out that “India has essentially all the inspections, regulations, and laws a developed country such as the United States has”, but the government hasn’t anywhere near the money needed to enforce the laws! They call this the problem of “premature imitation”: copying laws from developed countries without the money to enforce them.

The authors wonder if having fewer laws would result in better enforcement and adherence levels:

“Some programs and policies are of great value, but others should be undertaken only when state capacity and GDP per capita are higher.”

And if one thinks from that perspective, I am sure it won’t be hard to find all kinds of laws from British era that should be thrown out. Like the sedition law. And there must be plenty of other laws that don’t make sense in the age we live in. Round 1 could just involve getting rid of laws that don’t serve any purpose.

Round 2, would be harder: among the remaining laws, which ones are more important and which less? Edward Glaeser once quipped:

“A country that cannot provide clean water for its citizens should not be in the business of regulating film dialogue.”

It sure gives a pointer on what needs to stay for now, and which ones can be brought in later (if at all).

Interestingly, they point out no developed country ever had all kinds of regulations at the beginning. Those came later. So, perhaps India is handicapping itself by having all these laws and regulations from the beginning:

“Wealth, education, trade, and trust can grow, which in turn will allow for greater regulation.”

It’s certainly food for thought…