IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v44y1984i2p349-366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Democracy, creeping socialism, and ideological socialism in rent-seeking societies

Author

Listed:
  • Erich Weede

Abstract

Rent-seeking societies suffer from a serious distortion of incentives. Incentives to engage in distributional struggles, to seek contrived transfers are strong, but incentives to engage in productive work are too weak. Stagnation and some unemployment should be expected. Long lasting democracies within unchanged borders create a permissive environment for rent-seeking. The provision of rents very much depends on government. The stronger the governmental involvement in the economy, the higher social security spending, the more rents the government is likely to generate. Therefore, creeping socialism understood as increased government control of the economy should reinforce the rent-seeking society and the corresponding negative effects on growth and employment. Whether such creeping socialism is backed by ideological socialism or not should make little difference for growth or employment. These ideas have been tested and partially supported by a 19 nation sample of industrial democracies, using data from the sixties and seventies. By and large, the rent-seeking approach is fairly successful in explaining national differences in economic growth rates, but receives ambiguous support or less for unemployment. Olson's (1982, 1983) proposition about the negative impact of long lasting democracy within unchanged borders on economic growth is much better supported than the growth-retarding effects of government revenues or social security spending are. Copyright Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1984

Suggested Citation

  • Erich Weede, 1984. "Democracy, creeping socialism, and ideological socialism in rent-seeking societies," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 349-366, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:44:y:1984:i:2:p:349-366
    DOI: 10.1007/BF00118768
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF00118768
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF00118768?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anonymous, 1969. "I. United Nations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 971-989, October.
    2. Robert D. Tollison, 1982. "Rent Seeking: A Survey," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 575-602, November.
    3. Brittan, Samuel, 1978. "How British Is the British Sickness?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 245-268, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Weede, Erich, 1997. "Income inequality, democracy and growth reconsidered," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 751-764, December.
    2. Michael Marlow, 1988. "Private sector shrinkage and the growth of industrialized economies: Reply," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 285-294, September.
    3. Erich Weede, 1987. "A note on Pryor's criticism of Olson's rise and decline of nations," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 215-222, January.
    4. Jac C. Heckelman & Bonnie Wilson, 2013. "Institutions, Lobbying, and Economic Performance," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 360-386, November.
    5. Coates, Dennis & Heckelman, Jac C. & Wilson, Bonnie, 2010. "The political economy of investment: Sclerotic effects from interest groups," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 208-221, June.
    6. Erich Weede, 1987. "Interaction effects in cross-national studies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 361-375, December.
    7. Erich Weede, 1990. "Ideas, Institutions and Political Culture in Western Development," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(4), pages 369-389, October.
    8. Michael Marlow & David Joulfaian, 1989. "The determinants of off-budget activity of state and local governments," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 113-123, November.
    9. John McCallum & André Blais, 1987. "Government, special interest groups, and economic growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 3-18, January.
    10. Erich Weede, 1991. "The impact of state power on economic growth rates in OECD countries," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 421-438, November.
    11. Jac C. Heckelman, 2007. "Explaining the Rain: The Rise and Decline of Nations after 25 Years," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(1), pages 18-33, July.
    12. Michael Marlow, 1986. "Private sector shrinkage and the growth of industrialized economies," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 143-154, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elizabeth Bartholet, 2011. "Ratification by the United States of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Pros and Cons from a Child’s Rights Perspective," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 633(1), pages 80-101, January.
    2. Roger R. Betancourt, 1969. "R. A. EASTERLIN. Population, Labor Force, and Long Swings in Economic Growth: The American Experience. Pp. xx, 298. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research (Distributed by Columbia University P," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 384(1), pages 183-192, July.
    3. repec:elg:eechap:15325_21 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, 2004. "Ulysses and the Rent-Seekers: The Benefits and Challenges of Constitutional Constraints on Leviathan," Advances in Austrian Economics, in: The Dynamics of Intervention: Regulation and Redistribution in the Mixed Economy, pages 245-278, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    5. Erich Weede, 1986. "Rent Seeking, Military Participation, and Economic Performance in LDCs," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(2), pages 291-314, June.
    6. Dahl, Reynold P., 1971. "Agricultural Development Strategies In A Small Economy: The Case Of Tunisia," Staff Papers 13678, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    7. Auty, R. M., 2003. "Third time lucky for Algeria? Integrating an industrializing oil-rich country into the global economy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(1-2), pages 37-47.
    8. Wen Li Cheng & Jeffrey Sachs & Xiaokai Yang, 2005. "An Inframarginal Analysis Of The Ricardian Model," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: An Inframarginal Approach To Trade Theory, chapter 6, pages 87-107, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Bell, Frederick W. & Nash, Darrel A. & Carlson, Ernest W. & Waugh, Frederick V. & Kinoshita, Richard K. & Fullenbaum, Richard F., 1970. "The Future of the World's Fishery Resources: Forecasts of Demand, Supply and Prices to the Year 2000 with a Discussion of Implications for Public Policy," File Manuscripts, United States National Marine Fisheries Service, Economic Research Division, number 233219, January.
    10. Bruno S. Frey & Paolo Pamini & Lasse Steiner, 2011. "What Determines The World Heritage List? An Econometric Analysis," CREMA Working Paper Series 2011-01, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    11. Rott, Nandor, 1981. "Theoretical and Methodological Problems of Income Regulation in the Hungarian Food Economy," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 48.
    12. Tsiboe, Francis & Nalley, Lawton Lanier & Dixon, Bruce L. & Popp, Jennie S. & Luckstead, Jeff, 2014. "Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Cocoa Livelihoods Program in Sub-Saharan Africa," 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia 195775, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    13. Peter Boettke, 2017. "Robert Tollison and operationalizing public choice," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 17-22, April.
    14. Edward L. Glaeser, 2021. "Urban Resilience," NBER Working Papers 29261, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Sami Dakhlia & Paul Pecorino, 2006. "Rent-seeking with scarce talent: A model of preemptive hiring," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 475-486, December.
    16. Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Mansfield, Richard K. & Moore, Michael, 2007. "Demographic change, social security systems, and savings," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 92-114, January.
    17. Colistete, Renato P., 2010. "Revisiting Import-Substituting Industrialisation in Post-War Brazil," MPRA Paper 24665, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Douglas Davis & Robert Reilly, 1998. "Do too many cooks always spoil the stew? An experimental analysis of rent-seeking and the role of a strategic buyer," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 95(1), pages 89-115, April.
    19. William C. Mitchell, 1990. "Interest Groups: Economic Perspectives and Contributions," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(1), pages 85-108, January.
    20. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr & Terra Lawson-Remer & Susan Randolph, 2008. "Measuring the Progressive Realization of Human Rights Obligations: An Index of Economic and Social Rights Fulfillment," Working papers 2008-22, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    21. Yuriy O. Guyvoronskiy & Svetlana A. Karandashova & Elena V. Sirotkina & Anastasia Y. Shishorina, 2014. "The Institutionalization Of The Party System In Russia: Opportunities And Threats At The Elections Of Governors," HSE Working papers WP BRP 17/PS/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:44:y:1984:i:2:p:349-366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.