Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
2018
College/Unit
College of Business and Economics
Document Number
18-08
Department/Program/Center
Economics
Digital Commons Citation
Hall, Joshua C.; Matti, Josh; and Zhou, Yang, "Rent-Seeking in the Classroom and Textbooks: Where are we after 50 Years" (2018). Economics Faculty Working Papers Series. 3.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/econ_working-papers/3
Source Citation
In this paper we provide an overview of Tullock’s work on rent-seeking in the area of economics education. After summarizing the basic rent-seeking model in both a domestic and international context, we conduct an analysis of undergraduate and graduate texts in public economics. We find a majority of undergraduate texts cover rent-seeking in depth, but two texts provide zero coverage. No graduate textbook surveyed mentions rent-seeking. We conclude by summarizing the economic education literature on rent-seeking, which can be divided into either classroom experiments or popular culture examples.