being a function of rent seeking and/or lobbying by de facto power holders is tested. The resulting interesting finding is … that, political interference, rent seeking and lobbying increase the probability of state fragility by mitigating the …

this event, firms with little or no prior exposure to the federal accounts that experienced cuts reduced their lobbying … spending. In contrast, firms with a high degree of exposure to the cuts maintained and even increased their lobbying spending … likely intensified their lobbying efforts to distinguish themselves from the others and improve their chances of procuring a …