Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“A few years ago, I debated Kevin Drum about (what I considered) a particularly egregious case where the FDA dragged its feet in approving a life-saving medication. Drum argued that the FDA had behaved well; in support, he found some quotes from the doctor working on the medication, who praised all the FDA bureaucrats she had interacted with, calling them extremely helpful. This bothered me for a while, until I realized that of course it was true. In our model, each bureaucrat processes ten forms. If the bureaucrats are benevolent, this might look like talking to the doctors, walking them through the process of figuring out their ten forms, and doing the work to add their ten forms to the FDA’s growing pile of evidence supporting the application. All of this co-exists comfortably with the insight that making doctors fill out a thousand forms before they can use a medication is an impediment to medical progress.” (01/09/25)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/bureaucracy-isnt-measured-in-bureaucrats