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This episode explores the intersection of democracy and capitalism, focusing on the concept of political capitalism and its relation to cronyism. Randall Holcomb discusses transaction costs, charismatic leadership, and critiques the idea that democracy and separation of powers inherently checks coercion, stressing the need for competing elites to foster accountability.

• Transaction costs hinder citizen engagement in political processes
• Political capitalism defined as capitalism influenced by political motives
• Dynamic of cronyism within democratic systems
• Buchanan's notion of "politics as exchange" explored
• Political elites dominant in shaping policy and public preferences
• Charismatic leadership affects political beliefs and decisions
• Importance of competing elites for maintaining a balanced political landscape
• Reasons for optimism surrounding innovation in capitalism despite political challenges
• Upcoming book discusses further aspects of political exchange

Links!

Randy Holcombe's web site at FSU

Political Capitalism book
Following Their Leaders book

Michael Giberson blog post at Knowledge Problem, on Price Gouging.

Book'o'da Month: Peter Boettke, Rosolino A. Candela and Tegan Lindstrom Truitt, The Socialist Calculation Debate: Theory, History, and Contemporary Relevance https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/socialist-calculation-debate/5E63749F9D34D065193DCF77FC9FD8A9

If you have questions or comments, or want to suggest a future topic, email the show at taitc.email@gmail.com !

You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz

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