The Grabbing Hand: Government Pathologies and Their Cures

In many countries, public sector institutions impose heavy burdens on economic life: heavy and arbitrary taxes retard investment, regulations enrich corrupt bureaucrats, state firms consume national wealth, and the most talented people turn to rent-seeking rather than productive activities. As a consequence of such predatory policies—described in this book as the grabbing hand of the state—entrepreneurship lingers and economies stagnate.

The authors of this collection of essays describe many...