While entrepreneurs benefit from unrestricted free entry into markets, they have a time-inconsistent incentive to lobby for government entry restrictions once they become successful. Bad political institutions yield to these demands, and growing barriers are placed on domestic and international...

While it is now well-established in the literature that countries with better policies and institutions, as measured by the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index, have better outcomes in terms of prosperity, growth, and measures of human well-being. However, we know little about the process...