The 1891 and 1906 Meat Inspection Acts privileged a special-interest group at the public’s expense. Inspection subsidies resulted in industry consolidation and higher prices to the detriment of consumers and marginal firms. The Chicago Beef Trust secured special privileges by defensively lobbying politicians to amend threatening regulatory and legislative proposals into those that provided positive benefits to Chicago’s leading meat packers.

Patrick Newman is an assistant teaching professor of economics at the University of Tampa and a fellow of the Mises Institute.
American HistoryFDA and Drug RegulationLaw and Liberty
Other Independent Review articles by Patrick Newman
Spring 2023 Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World
Winter 2017/18 The Origins of the National Banking System: The Chase-Cooke Connection and the New York City Banks
Winter 2016/17 Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics and American Economics in the Progressive Era