Dependence on the Will of Government: The loss of republican freedom due to regressive rent-seeking policies

Abstract

Regressive rent-seeking policies, as identified in the US by Lindsey & Teles, increase inequality. I’ve analyzed the policies in question, with a focus on the freedoms that are lost because of their implementation, using a negative and republican concept of freedom. The policies restrict supply by outlawing people from providing products and subsequently giving a few people permission to provide the product. They also inflate the demand for certain products and take away the freedom to fail, but not reducing the negative effects of failure, for certain groups. I argue that it is therefore a loss of republican freedom that is the cause of the inequality, for it is the exception to the rule that allows people to accumulate wealth. People are dependent on the government’s will for the freedom to provide a product. I propose that there is a need for change in the law to protect citizens from the power of the government, the power to give freedom on an arbitrary basis, and that this change can be achieved because of the prevalence of republican freedom throughout the USA.