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89 Tex. L. Rev. See Also 1 (2009-2010)

handle is hein.journals/seealtex89 and id is 1 raw text is: Texas Law Review See Also Response Agency Hygiene Nicholas Bagley* Agency capture is a little like the weather: everybody complains about it, but nobody does anything about it. It's not hard to see why. Once capture becomes an entrenched feature of agency culture, it can be difficult to uproot. By definition, the political dynamic will reflect an unappealing mix of well- organized, well-heeled interest groups and a relatively apathetic and disinterested public. Efforts by Congress or the Executive Branch to eliminate capture are unlikely to pay political dividends and will probably antagonize powerful interest groups. Complacency seems the better course-for everyone but the public at large. The resistance of capture to political correction suggests that the most effective way to address capture will be to create conditions in which it is unlikely to flourish. On that front, Rachel Barkow has made an exceedingly important contribution. She has provided nothing less than an instruction manual for conscientious legislators who, when grasping the rare political opportunity to create or reshape an agency, aim to insulate that agency from undue interest-group pressure. And she has done so by moving the debate over insulation away from its myopic focus on formal independence from presidential control to the on-the-ground bureaucratic conditions that profoundly affect agency decisionmaking. * Assistant Professor of Law, The University of Michigan. I wish to thank Rachel Barkow, Kristina Daugirdas, David Fontana, Scott Hershovitz, Nina Mendelson, Sallyanne Payton, and Ricky Revesz for their thoughts and feedback. 1. Rachel E. Barkow, insulating Agencies: Avoiding Capture through Institutional Design, 89 TEXAs L. REV. 15 (2010).

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