IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cte/werepe/we041905.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Forms of governance and the size of rent-seeking

Author

Listed:
  • Corchón, Luis C.

Abstract

In this paper we present a model of an organization where agents can choose between productive and rent-seeking activities. We consider two governance institutions, single ownership and corporate governance or parliament rule. Applications include models of internal organization of a firm, of a kingdom ruled either by an absolute monarch or by the parliament, and location where agents can locate either in the court and become rent-seekers, or in an industrial city and become entrepreneurs. Our main goal is to study the size of rent-seeking activities under the two governance regimes. Under single ownership, rent-seeking reflects the taste of the owner for such activities and the possibilities of extracting rents from productive agents (who finance rent-seeking). The main conclusion of the paper is that, under corporate governance, the size of the rent-seeking sector may be larger than under single ownership despite the fact that in the former nobody has an intrinsic taste for rent-seeking activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Corchón, Luis C., 2004. "Forms of governance and the size of rent-seeking," UC3M Working papers. Economics we041905, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
  • Handle: RePEc:cte:werepe:we041905
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/rest/api/core/bitstreams/01e64d3a-fda4-4ef7-9443-ccc160585db6/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. David Pérez-Castrillo & Thierry Verdier, 1992. "A general analysis of rent-seeking games," Springer Books, in: Roger D. Congleton & Arye L. Hillman & Kai A. Konrad (ed.), 40 Years of Research on Rent Seeking 1, pages 133-148, Springer.
    2. David Stasavage, 2002. "Credible Commitment in Early Modern Europe: North and Weingast Revisited," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 155-186, April.
    3. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1991. "The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 503-530.
    4. North, Douglass C. & Weingast, Barry R., 1989. "Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 803-832, December.
    5. Baland, Jean-Marie & Francois, Patrick, 2000. "Rent-seeking and resource booms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 527-542, April.
    6. Tirole, Jean, 2001. "Corporate Governance," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 1-35, January.
    7. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    8. Acemoglu, Daron, 1995. "Reward structures and the allocation of talent," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 17-33, January.
    9. Torvik, Ragnar, 2002. "Natural resources, rent seeking and welfare," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 455-470, April.
    10. Shapiro, Carl, 1989. "Theories of oligopoly behavior," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 329-414, Elsevier.
    11. Robert H. Bates & Avner Greif & Margaret Levi & Jean-Laurent, 1998. "Analytic Narratives," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 6355.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Luis Corchón, 2007. "The theory of contests: a survey," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 11(2), pages 69-100, September.
    2. James A. Robinson & Ragnar Torvik, 2011. "Institutional Comparative Statics," NBER Working Papers 17106, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lagerlöf, Nils-Petter & Tangerås, Thomas, 2005. "Human Capital, Rent Seeking, and a Transition from Stagnation to Growth," Working Paper Series 656, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    4. Halvor Mehlum & Kalle Moene & Ragnar Torvik, 2003. "Destructive Creativity," Nordic Journal of Political Economy, Nordic Journal of Political Economy, vol. 29, pages 77-84.
    5. Nils‐Petter Lagerlöf & Thomas Tangerås, 2008. "From rent seeking to human capital: a model where resource shocks cause transitions from stagnation to growth," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 760-780, August.
    6. Mariani, Fabio, 2007. "Migration as an antidote to rent-seeking?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 609-630, November.
    7. Farhad Nili & Gabriel Talmain, "undated". "Rent-seeking, Occupational Choice and Oil Boom," Discussion Papers 01/11, Department of Economics, University of York.
    8. Drelichman, Mauricio, 2005. "All that glitters: Precious metals, rent seeking and the decline of Spain," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 313-336, December.
    9. Mehlum, Halvor & Moene, Karl & Torvik, Ragnar, 2003. "Predator or prey?: Parasitic enterprises in economic development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 275-294, April.
    10. Luis Corchón, 2008. "Forms of governance and the size of rent-seeking," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 30(2), pages 197-210, February.
    11. Andrea Asoni, 2008. "Protection Of Property Rights And Growth As Political Equilibria," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 953-987, December.
    12. Nunn, Nathan, 2007. "Historical legacies: A model linking Africa's past to its current underdevelopment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 157-175, May.
    13. Morck, Randall & Nakamura, Masao, 2018. "Japan's ultimately unaccursed natural resources-financed industrialization," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 32-54.
    14. Awoa, Paul Awoa & Efogo, Françoise Okah & Ondoa, Henri Atangana, 2023. "Oil dependence and entrepreneurship: Non-linear evidence," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(1).
    15. repec:hal:cepnwp:hal-01583559 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Henrekson, Magnus & Sanandaji, Tino, 2011. "The interaction of entrepreneurship and institutions," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 47-75, March.
    17. Nadeem Ul Haque, 2007. "Why Civil Service Reforms Do Not Work," PIDE-Working Papers 2007:24, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    18. Nuno Torres & Oscar Afonso, 2008. "Re-evaluating the impact of natural resources on economic growth," FEP Working Papers 278, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    19. Marcus Dejardin, 2011. "Entrepreneurship and Rent-Seeking Behavior," Working Papers 1112, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    20. Carrington, Sarah J. & Herrero Olarte, Susana & Urbina, Gabriel, 2023. "Commodity cycle management in Latin America: The importance of resilience in face of vulnerability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    21. Bulte, Erwin H & Damania, Richard & Deacon, Robert, 2003. "Resource Abundance, Poverty and Development," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt66z854gv, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.

    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:cte:werepe:we041905. 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: Ana Poveda (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.eco.uc3m.es/ .

    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.