The transformative impact of rent-seeking theory on the study of public choice

Prior to the introduction of rent seeking into public choice, the research program was focused primarily on collective decision-making. The incorporation of rent-seeking into public choice shifted the emphasis of the research program toward analyzing causes of government failure. Although Gordon Tullock’s 1967 article clearly lays out the concept of rent-seeking, the transformation of the public choice research program by the theory of rent-seeking did not occur until after the publication of Anne Krueger’s 1974 article on the rent-seeking society. This paper explains why Krueger’s presentation of the paper at the Public Choice Center at Virginia Tech was instrumental in this transformative shift in the public choice research program.