Description
Book SynopsisIn many countries, public sector institutions impose heavy burdens on economic life. As a consequence of predatory policies, entrepreneurship lingers and economies stagnate. The authors of this collection describe many of these pathologies of a “grabbing hand” government, and examine their consequences for growth.
Trade Review[
The Grabbing Hand's] range of materials is impressive: the chapters deal with the growth of European cities before the industrial revolution, corruption in post-Soviet Russia, privatisation in Eastern Europe, local government in the United States, and more. The authors keep technical apparatus to a minimum. By any standard, let alone the debased standard of most modern economics, the essays are lucid and literate. * The Economist *
Table of ContentsPerspectives and government; princes and merchants - European city growth before the industrial revolution; the allocation of talent - implications for growth; why is rent-seeking so costly to growth; corruption; pervasive shortages under socialism; the politics of market socialism; a theory of privatization; politicians and firms; privatization in the United States; government in transition.
