Description of rent seeking as applied to political corruption

Brief definition of "rent": To avoid misunderstandings, "rent" in this context has nothing to do with "rent" in the sense of rent for land or property. In the modern context of "rent seeking", rent strictly speaking means financial income which is not matched by corresponding labour or investment in the market sense. Rent in this sense arises from manipulation of the economic environment (e.g. monopolies, import and trading restrictions, and subsidies). As resources are …

…existing knowledge regarding corruption, its internal mechanism, interacting agents, effects of corruption on economic performance of economies and the policy implications of the issue. If politicians choose their activities on the basis of expected returns, rates of return on alternative activities will be equated and, in that sense, markets will be competitive. In most cases, politicians do not perceive themselves to be rent-seekers and, generally speaking, individuals and firms do not specialise in rent seeking.