CMR
Self-funding regulatory design for misaligned markets.
When markets produce bad outcomes, it is usually because costs are externalized and bad actors profit while the public absorbs the consequences. The Center for Market Realignment designs self-funding regulatory systems that correct these incentive misalignments.
Our approach treats misaligned markets the way environmental law treats pollution: the entities generating public costs fund the enforcement against themselves. The resulting systems are self-sustaining, outcome-driven, and designed so that compliance is more economically rational than evasion.
CMR is being organized as a nonprofit research organization. Our methodology is generalizable across markets where regulatory capture, externalized costs, or enforcement gaps produce preventable harm.
Current Research
CMR's inaugural project addresses California's commercial companion animal market, where commercial breeding operations externalize costs onto county shelter systems, taxpayers, and consumers who purchase poorly bred animals.
CMR is conducting foundational research to quantify market scope and shelter attribution rates, and developing a self-funding regulatory framework that would require the industry to fund its own oversight. Research findings and policy recommendations are targeted for publication in late 2026.
Team & Advisors
- Bob Ferber Senior Deputy City Attorney (ret.), City of Los Angeles
- Sharon Papa Assistant Chief of Police (ret.), LAPD