Islamic societies have in contemporary times lagged Western societies in income, growth, and human-development indicators. The supreme values of radical Islam further de-prioritize economic achievement and impose self-deprivation on own populations. This paper investigates the reasons for...

A major contribution of the public-choice school is the recognition by Gordon Tullock that contestable rents give rise to social losses because of unproductive resource use. Contestable rents usually are politically assigned privileges. Contestable rents can also be found outside of government...