# kaal:claim:2834531-017

**Claim.** Faced with disruptive innovation, regulators believe their only options are reckless action, meaning regulation without sufficient facts, or paralysis, meaning doing nothing; in that bind caution beats risk and the precautionary principle becomes the default.

**Type.** mechanism  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- constant, complex and disruptive technological innovation

**Source quote.**

> Regulators can find themselves in a situation where they believe they must opt for either reckless action (regulation without sufficient facts) or paralysis (doing nothing). Inevitably in such a case, caution tends to trump risk. The precautionary principle becomes the default position.

**From.** Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, *Regulation Tomorrow What Happens When Technology Is Faster Than the Law* (2017), A. Facts Today, page 22

**Cite as.** Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, Regulation Tomorrow What Happens When Technology Is Faster Than the Law (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2834531

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `9cd875ebdb0266febbdcdabfca5b9b9f0de1b7ad9e3d5a8a5971bdbe469323b7` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Fenwick%20et%20al.%20-%202017%20-%20Regulation%20Tomorrow%20What%20Happens%20When%20Technology%20Is%20Faster%20Than%20the%20Law.pdf

**Failure mode.** recklessness or paralysis dichotomy  (family: regulatory-lag)

**Topics.** innovation

**Keywords.** recklessness-or-paralysis, precautionary-principle, regulatory-dilemma, disruptive-innovation

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