Rent-Seeking on the Supply Side of politicS 1

Mark Zupan
unpublished
In studying how rent-seeking diminishes a nation's well-being, the focus typically is on the demand side of the policymaking process: crony capitalists, economic elites, labor unions, industrial cartels, consumer activists, and/or environmentalists seeking favorable policies to promote their own economic rents at the expense of the general public. Precious little attention, however, is devoted to a potentially far more dangerous and pervasive form of political capture by government insiders who
more » ... operate on the supply side of the policymaking process -rulers, elected officials, policymakers, and public employees. Government insiders have the motive, means, and opportunity to co-opt the machinery of the state to promote their monetary and ideological interests at the expense of the general citizenry. This malignancy operates akin to how cancer hijacks the body's own reproductive machinery to grow at its expense.
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