In this paper, I examine the extent to which the link between public preferences and government policy is biased toward the preferences of high-income Americans. Using an original data set of almost 2,000 survey questions on proposed policy changes between 1981 and 2002, I find a moderately...

In a remarkably simple and yet in one of the most original and insightful observations of 20th century economics, Gordon Tullock observed that there are efficiency losses when public policies and political behavior create contestable rents. Tullock also observed that social losses from...

In this analysis, I examine state level interest group systems and political outcomes, particularly income inequality. Gray and Lowery (1996) investigated the density and diversity of state-level interest group systems and found that state-level economic variables were related to the density and...