Right to Repair and Capture Theory

Right to Repair is a movement that wants consumers to be able to have their products repaired by parties independent from the dealer or manufacturer of a product.  This movement has been growing in popularity in the tractor, medical equipment, and automobile industries, but I will focus on the consumer electronics industry.  To provide an example of the issue, let’s say your MacBook breaks and you need a new charging chip, instead of buying it online and repairing your MacBook yourself or having an independent repair shop do it, you must go to Apple to repair it.

Regulations were previously passed that allowed these practices often in the name of protecting consumers' data.  There is little merit to this claim however as there is little reason to doubt the trustworthiness of most independent repair shops.  Capture Theory on the other hand, offers a compelling reason why Apple pushed for these regulations.  The regulations are a form of entry control that allows Apple to have a monopoly on the repair of Apple devices which allow Apple to create durable rents.  Its clear the regulation are not pro-consumer however the costs are dispersed across everyone and often not large enough for most people to be too upset by. 

That said, there has been recent pushback recently as consumers have become less ignorant of the issue.  Using the objective function of elected representatives under the Stigler-Peltzman model of regulation, h has been increasing causing a decrease in M meaning elected representatives should be more hesitant in supporting the continuing existence of these regulations as their net votes from supporting the regulations decreases.  So far, the change in M has not been significant enough to alter the voting behavior of elected representatives but that could change if the current trend continues.