The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase InequalityFor years, America has been plagued by slow economic growth and increasing inequality. In The Captured Economy, Brink Lindsey and Steven M. Teles identify a common factor behind these twin ills: breakdowns in democratic governance that allow wealthy special interests to capture the policymaking process for their own benefit. They document the proliferation of regressive regulations that redistribute wealth and income up the economic scale while stifling entrepreneurship and innovation. They also detail the most important cases of regulatory barriers that have worked to shield the powerful from the rigors of competition, thereby inflating their incomes: subsidies for the financial sector's excessive risk taking, overprotection of copyrights and patents, favoritism toward incumbent businesses through occupational licensing schemes, and the NIMBY-led escalation of land use controls that drive up rents for everyone else. An original and counterintuitive interpretation of the forces driving inequality and stagnation, The Captured Economy will be necessary reading for anyone concerned about America's mounting economic problems and how to improve the social tensions they are sparking. |
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The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth ... Brink Lindsey,Steven M. Teles No preview available - 2019 |
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agenda Alex Tabarrok American areas argue assets banks Brink Lindsey bubble CAPTURED ECONOMY Cass Sunstein Cato Institute cities competition Congress consumers copyright and patent costs created crony capitalism debt deliberative dynamism economic growth economist Edward Glaeser effect entry barriers equity expanded eyebrow threading favor federal financial firms financial sector funding Glaeser GSEs higher highly house prices incentives income increase industry inequality infringement innovation institutions intellectual property interests investment Josh Lerner Kleiner labor less levels leverage licensing boards loans lobbyists market failure Meanwhile ment mobility mortgage occupational licensing organized overall patent laws patent trolls percent Peter Orszag policymakers problem productivity growth profits recent decades reduce reform regulation regulatory regulatory capture relatively rent RENT-PROOFING POLITICS rent-seeking requirements Research Working Paper restrictions rise risk securitization seekers seeking skilled subsidies tion University Press upward redistribution wages wealth workers zoning