The Role of Policy Academics in

Guarding Failing Food Safety

Regulation
- The Ant-Aphid Hypothesis -

Tomohide Yasuda
Environmental, Earth, and Ocean Sciences Department
University of Massachusetts at Boston

Austrian Scholars Conference, March 12-14, 2009

Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama
Content
 Why Study Ideological Change?
 Evolution of Ideology
 Two Evolutionary Hypotheses
 Testing of the Hypotheses
 Conclusions
Why Study Ideological Change?
Food Safety Budgets and Food
Poisoning Cases
1400
1300 Total budgets
1200
Million $

1100
1000
900
800 Compiled from USDA & FDA data
700
30000

25000
Cases

20000

15000
Total cases Compiled from CDC data
10000
2001

2006
1997

1998

1999

2000

2002

2003

2004

2005

2007

Year
Biological Evolution

Biological
Traits Evolution
Variation Charles Darwin (1859)
Heredity
Selection

dustyloft.files.wordpress.com
Ideological Components as Evolving
Entities

Ideological
Components Evolution
•Ideas Variation
•Behaviors Heredity
•Institutions Selection
Emergence of Co-adapted Ideological
Complexes
Idea
Behavior
Behavior Idea Institution
Institution Institution
Behavior
Idea Behavior
Behavior Institution
Institution Selection
Institution Idea
Behavior Idea Idea
Idea
Institution Behavior
Behavior
Idea
Institution
Institution
Behavior Idea
Emergence of Co-adapted Ideological
Complexes
Behavior
Institution
Idea
Idea Behavior Complex
Institution

Selection
vs.

Behavior
Institution
Institution Idea Idea
Behavior
Complex
Ideology
 Newdefinition:
“A naturally evolved complex
consisting of mutually assisting
ideas, collective behaviors, and
socio-political institutions”
Two Selective Environments of
Ideology
 Psychological environment
e.g., An economic
policy which exploits
human insecurity about
future will be copied
and spread.

 Socio-economic environment
 Social factors influence human brains’
initial exposure to ideas.
Government Information Supply as
a Dominant Selective Factor
 Dominant pro-regulatory ideologies
 Government interference in the
information pool
 Tax-funded nature of government
activities
Two Hypotheses
 Hypothesis 1
 Government information supply grows.
Ideological Complex
Govt agencies with secured resources (Tax) = “Nucleus” components
Pro-regulatory ideas = Co-components

Persistent supply of pro-regulatory ideas

Human conformity bias

Increased support for govt agencies

Two Hypotheses
 Hypothesis 2
 A mutualism between bureaucrats
and academics emerges.
Photo by autan -Flickr

Bureaucrats Funding Academics

Academic justification for more funding

Photo by Anauxite -Flickr

New institutional
ideological components
• Academic societies
• Academic journals
• Research institutions
• Graduate schools Photo by laurent.94 -Flickr
Testing of Hypothesis 1
Government information supply grows.

 Information pool: Sept. 5, 2008

 Keywords: “Food safety” & “Policy”

No. of articles
Total hits about 567
Accessible articles 180
Articles relevant to the keywords 59
Testing of Hypothesis 1
Government information supply grows.

 Economic sector breakdown

Economic sectors %

Government agencies 31.9

Food industry 28.6

Journalists and authors 15.9

Consumer advocacy groups 9.0

University academics
8.1
(4.5% government supported)

Government dominance
of the information supply
Testing of Hypothesis 1
Government information supply grows.

 Information supplying organizations

Organizations %

USDA 12.9

FDA 9.5

Monsanto 3.4

Center for Food Safety 2.8

Grocery Manufacturers Association 2.6

Government dominance
of the information supply
Growth of Government Information
Supply
40
2008 Total government
35
30
Percentage

25
2008 FDA & USDA
20
15
10
5
0
1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
Year
In 1862, President Lincoln set up
a federal office that would develop
into the FDA and USDA
thelincolnassociationofjerseycity.com/index.html
Testing of Hypothesis 2
A mutualism between bureaucrats and academics emerges.

 Federal funding for university economists

 Total: $ 119 million (2007)
 = 35% in the total funding
 USDA: 21.7% in federal funding

Government dominance
in research funding

Photo by Michie Yasuda

Testing of Hypothesis 2
A mutualism between bureaucrats and academics emerges.

 Academic journal Food Policy (July 2, 2008)

 Keyword: “food safety”
 Total hits: 46 articles

Government-affiliated authors* 26

Government-funded articles* 29

SUM 55 Photo by Michie Yasuda

* These are not overlapped.

Government dominance
of academic publishing
Conclusions
 Government information supply has
grown.
 Government keeps spreading pro-regulatory
ideas.
 A mutualism between bureaucrats and
academics exists.
 Economic theories which
support more government
intervention are produced
and spread.

Photo by Michie Yasuda