The Normal One

clipped from esr.ibiblio.org Mancur Olson, in his book The Logic Of Collective Action, highlighted the central problem of politics in a democracy. The benefits of political market-rigging can be concentrated to benefit particular special interest groups, while the costs (in higher taxes, slower economic growth, and many other second-order effects) are diffused through the entire population. This general model has consequences. Here are some of them: There is no form of market failure, however egregious, which is not eventually made worse by the political interventions intended to fix it. Political demand for income transfers, entitlements and subsidies always rises faster than the economy can generate increased wealth to supply them from. Although some taxes genuinely begin by being levied for the benefit of the taxed, all taxes end up being levied for the benefit of the political class. Corruption is not the exceptional condition of politics, it is the normal one.

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