This seems like a clear counterexample to the “invisible graveyard” model of FDA incentives. That model would say that the FDA is incentivized to keep the plant closed, because food-poisoning-for-babies is newsworthy and attributable, but higher-prices-for-formula isn’t. But it turns out there was a threshold somewhere, where if the FDA suppressed supply too much, the damage becomes impossible to ignore and the FDA becomes the subject of a proper scandal.
If the FDA (or other bureaucrats) were worried about babies being poisoned, they could just allow imports of Canadian baby formula. They know there’s no meaningful risk of baby-poisoning from that, and yet they’re making up excuses as if that were a serious risk. The reason the “invisible graveyard” model doesn’t apply is that there’s no danger to be avoided in this case.
In this case, I think the FDA is performing a few functions:
Protectionism of the American baby formula industry
Allowing Biden to “take charge” by invoking the Defense Production Act
Enforcing policy for the sake of policy, a bureaucracy performing its self-perceived role in the manner it believes is viewed as conventionally appropriate by others
If I were to psychoanalyze the FDA in terms of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, I’d place it at stage 4: authority and social order obedience driven:
it is important to obey laws, dicta, and social conventions because of their importance in maintaining a functioning society. Moral reasoning in stage four is thus beyond the need for individual approval exhibited in stage three. A central ideal or ideals often prescribe what is right and wrong. If one person violates a law, perhaps everyone would—thus there is an obligation and a duty to uphold laws and rules. When someone does violate a law, it is morally wrong; culpability is thus a significant factor in this stage as it separates the bad domains from the good ones. Most active members of society remain at stage four, where morality is still predominantly dictated by an outside force.
If the FDA (or other bureaucrats) were worried about babies being poisoned, they could just allow imports of Canadian baby formula. They know there’s no meaningful risk of baby-poisoning from that, and yet they’re making up excuses as if that were a serious risk. The reason the “invisible graveyard” model doesn’t apply is that there’s no danger to be avoided in this case.
In this case, I think the FDA is performing a few functions:
Protectionism of the American baby formula industry
Allowing Biden to “take charge” by invoking the Defense Production Act
Enforcing policy for the sake of policy, a bureaucracy performing its self-perceived role in the manner it believes is viewed as conventionally appropriate by others
If I were to psychoanalyze the FDA in terms of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, I’d place it at stage 4: authority and social order obedience driven: