Where the words come from
Government action as imperfect, special interests and regulatory capture, the lack of a self-correcting mechanism in government agencies, identifiable winners and anonymous losers, and weighing both markets and governments — Principles of Economics 2e, OpenStax, licensed CC BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/18-3-flaws-in-the-democratic-system-of-government. Changes: US agencies (the Department of Education, the IRS) generalised to "a department"; British spelling; the excessive administrative costs card built on 2e's missing self-correcting mechanism (no competitors, milder pressure to seek efficiency), with the clause on costing more than the benefit delivered and the grant-scheme figures ours and illustrative.
Special interest groups, and regulatory capture — Principles of Economics 2e, OpenStax, licensed CC BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/18-2-special-interest-politics. Changes: The regulatory capture definition condensed from 2e; the card's rail-regulator example is our own, replacing 2e's pollution-rule lobbying example, which showed lobbying but no regulator; the rent-control case of anonymous losers condensed; the recap no longer counts regulatory capture among the specifications' four forms, and the set's intro says it goes beyond some specifications (29 September).
No law can cancel the principles of demand and supply, and rent control leaving fewer units rented — Principles of Economics 2e, OpenStax, licensed CC BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/3-4-price-ceilings-and-price-floors. Changes: The unintended consequences definition condensed from "the principles will become apparent in sometimes unexpected ways, which may undermine the intent of the government policy"; rent control leaving fewer units rented, "apartments" to "flats".
Government failure as intervention that itself results in an inefficient allocation of resources, and its examples — The MHCLG Appraisal Guide, GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-mhclg-appraisal-guide/the-mhclg-appraisal-guide. Changes: Recast from "an existing 'government failure' that itself has resulted in an inefficient allocation of resources" as a definition; footnote 5's examples condensed; the distortion of price signals card's definition, and the mechanism in its example (the subsidy keeps the price low, so more is made and used), are ours: only the polluting-subsidy case comes from footnote 5.
The definition of market failure — The Green Book (2026), HM Treasury, GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book-appraisal-and-evaluation-in-central-government/the-green-book-2026. Changes: "A market failure is" to "Market failure is".
The question and the page layout are our own.