The social costs of rent seeking and the excess burden of taxation have been studied and evaluated independently. We show that, when rent seekers earn taxable income, there is interdependence between the two types of social losses. Rent seeking increases the excess burden of taxation under risk...

We draw on the background of regional and local governments in China to identify the source of endemic corruption in the behavior of officials in government bureaucracies. When personal advancement in a bureaucracy involves payment of bribes to superiors, corruption is the consequence of the...