Public Goods Redistribution and Rent Seeking....

Public Goods, Redistribution and Rent Seeking The Locke Institute General Director Charles K. Rowley, Ph.D. Director of Legal Studies Amanda J. Owens, Esq., J.D. Editorial Director Arthur Seldon, C.B.E. Financial Director Robert S. Elgin, M.A. Program Director James T. Bennett, Ph.D. Conference Director Marjorie I. Rowley Founded in 1989, The Locke Institute is an independent, non-partisan, edu-cational and research organization. The Institute is named for John Locke (1632–1704), philosopher and political theorist, who based his theory of society on natural law which required that the ultimate source of political sovereignty was with the individual. Individuals are possessed of inalienable rights variously defined by Locke as ‘life, health, liberty and possession’, or, more directly, ‘life, liberty and property’. It is the function of the state to uphold these rights since individuals would not enter into a political society unless they believed that it would protect their lives, liberties and properties. The Locke Institute seeks to engender a greater understanding of the concept of natural rights, its implications for constitutional democracry and for economic organization in modern society. The Institute encourages high-quality research utilizing in particular, modern theories of property rights, public choice, law and economics, and the new institutional economics as a basis for a more profound understanding of important and controversial issues in political economy. To this end, it commissions books, monographs and shorter studies involving substantive scholarship written for a wide audi-ence, organizes major conferences on fundamental topics in political economy,and supports independent research.The Institute maintains a pub-lishing relationship with Edward Elgar Publishing. It also publishes its own monograph series. In order to maintain independence, The Locke Institute accepts no gov-ernment funding. Funding for the Institute is solicited from private founda-tions, corporations and individuals. In addition, the Institute raises funds from the sale of publications and from conference fees. The Institute is incor-porated in the State of Virginia, USA, and enjoys non-profit, tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)3 of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Officers of the Institute are listed above. Please direct all enquiries to the address given below. 5188 Dungannon Road, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, US Tel. (703) 934-6934 Fax (703) 934-6927 email: locke@thelockeinstitute.org http://www.TheLockeInstitute.org Public Goods, Redistribution and Rent Seeking Gordon Tullock George Mason University, USA The Locke Institute Edward Elgar Cheltenham, UK · Northampton, MA, USA © Gordon Tullock, 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing Limited Glensanda House Montpellier Parade Cheltenham Glos GL50 1UA UK Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. 136 West Street Suite 202 Northampton Massachusetts 01060 USA A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1 84376 637 X (cased) Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall ... - tailieumienphi.vn