Lobbyists do not exist in China but widely exist in the western political system. The job of lobbyists is to persuade policymakers to make or withdraw certain policies. Lobbyists are very influential in the western politics. It is clear that there are unlikely any regulations on Facebook after Mark Zuckerburg’s hearing because even if the government decided to do so, Facebook could spend billions of dollars on lobbying and eventually block the regulations on it, said by one of the congressmen during the hearing.
The money spent on lobbying is a waste to the society because it does not actually produce any outputs other than shifting the policy directions. It is possible for lobbying to be socially beneficial that when lobbyists are more informed than politicians, they are possible to direct politicians to make more socially desirable policies. However, under such circumstance, because lobbyists have more information, they are easier to manipulate the politicians and make them misestimate the outcomes of their policies.
Moreover, lobbying could be seen as a legal bribery that theoretically speaking, lobbying and bribery give the same levels of private benefits to the politicians. Therefore, overall lobbying is not socially desirable.
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