Political Capitalism - How Economic and Political Power Is Made and Maintained

Explains why government policies favor elites over the masses, building on well-established theories from the social sciences.

List of contents

1. The concept of political capitalism; 2. Political capitalism as an economic system; 3. The political and economic elite; 4. Interest groups and political exchange; 5. Political creation of economic rents; 6. Transitional gains and rent extraction; 7. The regulatory state; 8. Capitalism versus democracy; 9. The institutional evolution of political capitalism; 10. Public policy and political capitalism; 11. Is political capitalism inevitable?

About the author

Randall G. Holcombe is DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University. Dr olcombe is also Senior Fellow at the James Madison Institute, a Tallahassee-based think tank that specializes in issues facing state governments. He served on Florida Governor Jeb Bush's Council of Economic Advisors from 2000 to 2006, and is past president of the Public Choice Society and the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.

Summary

Explains why unequal political and economic power is perpetuated through the self-interested behavior of well-connected politicians and economic elites. Describes developments in political and economic policy that maintain these advantages and discusses ways in which public policy could be redirected back toward the public interest.

Additional text

Advance praise: 'For a century, political rhetoric has been constructed around a left-right axis that contrasts markets and states. Randall G. Holcombe explains that this conventional axis is no longer meaningful because we now inhabit a world of political capitalism where politics and economics are thoroughly entangled and inseparable.' Richard E. Wagner, George Mason University

Product details

• Authors: Randall G. Holcombe, Randall G. (Florida State University) Holcombe, Holcombe Randall G.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.08.2018
• EAN: 9781108471770
• ISBN: 978-1-108-47177-0
• No. of pages: 304
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society; Cambridge Studies in Economics; Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Sociology, Economics, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Economy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Affairs & Administration, Political science & theory, Public Administration, Political Economy, Political science and theory