Using firm level data from the U.S. steel industry, we find that lobbying for import protection is habit forming, as suggested in the rent-seeking literature. Controlling for firm performance and other factors, past lobbying increases the likelihood of current lobbying in our full sample....

Countries in which billionaire heirs' wealth is large relative to G.D.P. grow more slowly, show signs of more political rent-seeking, and spend less on innovation than do other countries at similar levels of development. In contrast, countries in which self-made entrepreneur billionaire wealth...