The cigarettes doesn’t qualify because it was an individual activity, not an “emergent phenomenon” in the way cartels form. You can intimidate each individual into not doing something publicly (but privately they will continue), especially if it’s not something natural (unless you argue smoking tobacco is part of human nature) but thet is not the GROUP phenomenon is what we were discussing.

Now, the idea of creating unsafe cars is maybe closer, since one could argue “cutting corners” is an emergent GROUP phenomenon. So maybe you’re saying government can ban “cutting corners” as a phenomenon across the industry. And not, say, what the pinto did.

I would say that, over time, an industry such as aviation etc. painstakingly builds up improvements, such that there is enough technology that not cutting corners is just as cheap or cheaper than cutting them. For example, square windows led to a plane blowing up so they made them rounded. Eventually things just made it into standards so it’s a lot harder to actually get unsafe windows etc.

You mentioned seatbelts “being available”. That’s the point, it’s just one technology. Anti-lock brakes is another. Industries do this gradually without government “banning unsafe windows.”

For example, the government “banned monopolies” and broke up Ma Bell. Into a bunch of large pieces. But for decades they couldn’t get the cost of long distance calls to get low. If they instituted “price controls” that would be the attempt you’re talking about of eradicating the “emergent cartels” among the phone companies.

But as technology improved, and Voice Over IP used packet switching, costs quickly dropped to zero. What the catalyst really was, was that peer-to-peer file sharing networks initially designed to GET AROUND THE LAW (copyright law) in the form of Kazaa etc. made the government start fighting THAT emergent phenomenon, and the Kazaa developers turned to other uses and founded Skype.

It is that tech that now led to dropping of costs overnight to zero and the explosion of audio and video innovation, webrtc etc.

And now the governments can try to “ban end to end encryption” including in webrtc. And according to you they will be successful.

Maybe they can just mandate that everything cost nearly $0, but mandates and bans are not what made it happen. It was a slow process of technology improving, usually DESPITE government.