8  Under normal market conditions, the substantial profits of the GSEs would attract competitors. But competitors, which are subject to market scrutiny when conducting their business, cannot provide a check on the GSEs because they cannot compete with the GSEs’ low cost of funds.
Second, policies geared towards market liberalisation, increased research and development and human capital formation, which could spur long-run productivity growth, have been hesitant at most in many cases. Third, even if some initiatives have aimed at increasing the employment rate of older workers, progress has generally been slow, partly due to popular resistance.