[nickpp]

Actually building in Turkey is strongly regulated - it’s just that corruption in government allows bad players to easily ignore it.

Just another way regulation fails to do what is supposed to, while its downsides (diminished competition, deterring startups and supporting incumbents) still apply.

This is why blindly relying on regulation and ignoring its trade offs is just foolish.

[TylerE]

When the officials are nearly universally corrupt, the regulations de facto do not exist.

[nickpp]

> the regulations de facto do not exist

But they do exist. Their downsides still apply. They will keep intimidating and burdening the honest players and deterring prospective startups while completely failing to stop bad players.

They will even encourage corruption: obey heavy regulations and controls or simply pay a tribute to the ruler.

[TylerE]

Read more in depth into this catastrophe. There were for all intents and purposes NO honest players. In some towns 90%+ of buildings collapsed, when code compliant ones would not have - it wasn’t even that strong an earthquake.

FTA: “ According to numbers published by the environment and urbanisation ministry in 2018, more than half of the buildings in Turkey – equivalent to almost 13m buildings – violate construction and safety regulations.”