"Make Us a King": Anarchy, Predation, and the State / Herschel I. Grossman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grossman, Herschel I.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w6289.

NBER working paper series no. w6289

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Make Us a King

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1997.

Summary:

In order to enforce a collective choice to allocate resource to guarding against predators producers must subject themselves to the state's sovereign power to tax and to spend. But these sovereign powers in hand the state can exploit the producers by taxing and spending for its" own purposes. Using a general equilibrium model in which people can choose to be either" producers or predators, this paper rationalizes the biblical request, Make us a king. analysis shows that, if the technology of predation is sufficiently good better for everyone, including both producers and potential predators even though a king maximizes the consumption of a ruling elite.

Notes:

Print version record

November 1997.