Laboratory methods are used to evaluate the effects of institutional arrangements and rent-defending activity on rent-seeking auction outcomes. In part, Nash equilibrium predictions are a useful behavioral guide: As predicted, more rents are dissipated in perfectly-discriminating auctions, where...

The debate about the measurement of the amount of rent dissipated in rent-seeking activities is unable to be answered by observations from the naturally occurring environment. Current theoretical investigations have indicated that a number of factors will affect the amount of rent that can be...