The Political Economy of Metrology

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to discuss some economic aspects of metrology, the field of study dealing with measurements. The first part of the paper deals with what might be called the economics of precision; the second discusses the public goods nature of a system of measurement, and the third economic aspect of metrology concerns occupational entry barriers.

Even though a market demand and supply in the usual sense do not exist, a system of weights and measures does have many traditional economic characteristics. For example, the measures themselves came about in response to emerging needs to measure with varying degrees of accuracy the commodities that were traded in society. Just as technology has affected the supply of traded goods, so too has it affected the supply of tools of measurement and their precision.

The first two sections of the paper will describe our system of weights and measures as an evolutionary process much like how traditional commodity markets work. Individuals and governments have promoted the standardization of units and their accuracy when it served to facilitate a more efficient allocation of resources. The public goods nature of a standardized system of weights and measures will be discussed with emphasis on government involvement.

The third section of the paper will discuss some instances in which our system of weights and measures fails to promote economic efficiency. Specifically, we will discuss the rent-seeking behavior by some to implement nonstandard measures as a means of erecting occupational entry barriers.