For instance he divided the selling of state assets into several distinct methods, with the choice of the method depending on the particular circumstances. But it is more complex than that. And Pirie's accounts of using interest groups to favor the process of divestiture propelled my thinking about the economics of interest groups. We may be accustomed to thinking of interest groups as bad, as favoring the growth of state. But in our studies we have seen groups which we would call good.
Community policing cooperatives exemplify such groups.
Here we approve of the motivations of the members, and we applaud their successes. Another example is provided by insurance companies, in which, similarly, people pool their resources, enabling them to face threats collectively rather than individually. In a sense we can view our whole problem, of individual liberties being trampled by state power, as a question of the economics of interest groups. When I think of successful interest groups, I tend to think first of the type of group where a small number of people each stand to gain a lot. And this gain is at the expense of a large number of people who each stand to lose so little that it is not worth the trouble of any of these individuals to fight it off.