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On Rent-Seeking Cost Under Democracy And Under Dictatorship

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Abstract
This note argues that, broadly speaking, democracies have a comparative advantage over dictatorships in keeping rent-seeking costs down by imposing penalties that reduce returns to scale in rent-seeking. Dictatorships have a comparative advantage in restricting the number of rent-seekers through higher entry barriers into rent-seeking, although not to the point of eliminating rent-seeking altogether. Of the two, the former is potentially a more effective way to control rent-seeking costs. For this reason, a democracy has the potential to achieve lower rent-seeking losses, as a share of total rent available, than does a dictatorship, although this may require the democracy to achieve a high degree of transparency of government, along with freedom of the press, the judiciary, and public and private watchdog agencies to criticize politicians and public officials.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Carson, 2007. "On Rent-Seeking Cost Under Democracy And Under Dictatorship," Carleton Economic Papers 07-01, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 01 May 2008.
    • Handle: RePEc:car:carecp:07-01
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rent seeking; democracy; dictatorship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • H19 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Other

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