Government intervention in the form of consumer protection is appropriate where consumers have less than the required amount of information to protect themselves, where transaction costs act to reduce consumer self‐protection below acceptable levels, where consumer welfare is not sufficiently considered in oligopolistic markets, where private costs and social costs diverge due to externalities, where a certain level of quality assurance is necessary if markets are to function and where riskier products removal from the market lowers firms' insurance premiums as well as serves the interest of public health and safety. Consumer protection is a public good which will not be available in optimal quantities without government interventio