Rent Seeking and Endogenous Income Inequality

This paper studies the relationship between wealth inequality and occupational choice between rent-seeking and production. With imperfect credit markets and a fixed cost to rent-seeking, only wealthy agents choose to engage in rent-seeking as it enables them to protect their wealth from expropriatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wade, Paul
Other Authors: Dabla-Norris, Era
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. International Monetary Fund 2001
Series:IMF Working Papers
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: International Monetary Fund - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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245 0 0 |a Rent Seeking and Endogenous Income Inequality  |c Paul Wade, Era Dabla-Norris 
260 |a Washington, D.C.  |b International Monetary Fund  |c 2001 
300 |a 29 pages 
651 4 |a China, People's Republic of 
653 |a Civil service 
653 |a Wealth 
653 |a Income 
653 |a Income distribution 
653 |a Saving 
653 |a Transaction Costs 
653 |a Aggregate Labor Productivity 
653 |a Unemployment 
653 |a Aggregate Factor Income Distribution 
653 |a Aggregate Human Capital 
653 |a National accounts 
653 |a Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions 
653 |a Labor 
653 |a Consumption; Economics 
653 |a Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development 
653 |a Organizational Behavior 
653 |a Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior 
653 |a Consumption 
653 |a Civil service & public sector 
653 |a Macroeconomics 
653 |a Macroeconomics: Consumption 
653 |a Wages 
653 |a Income inequality 
653 |a Intergenerational Income Distribution 
653 |a Property Rights 
653 |a Employment 
700 1 |a Dabla-Norris, Era 
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520 |a This paper studies the relationship between wealth inequality and occupational choice between rent-seeking and production. With imperfect credit markets and a fixed cost to rent-seeking, only wealthy agents choose to engage in rent-seeking as it enables them to protect their wealth from expropriation. Hence, initial wealth determines occupational choice and aggregate economic activity. The model also generates an unequal wealth distribution endogenously through fair gambles undertaken voluntarily, despite agents being identical ex ante. If agents have an altruistic bequest motive, income and occupational differences can be perpetuated from generation to generation