This paper relates economic development to transaction costs. It reveals the triad transaction costs-market failure-economic underdevelopment. Many scholars attribute the problems of development to the failure of markets to perform their role of resource allocation. Some deny market failure and...

This paper studies the wasteful effect of bureaucracy on the economy by addressing the link between opportunistic behavior of government bureaucrats and the public sector wage bill. In particular, public officials are modeled as individuals competing for a larger share of those public funds. A...