Bryan Caplan looks at Ayn Rand, Economic/Political General Equilibrium Theorist:
Atlas came out in 1957, and it’s got more about rent-seeking than the next 15 years of public choice scholarship. As I explain in Atlas Shrugged and Public Choice: The Obvious Parallels:
Each piece of legislation [in Atlas] has the following components:
- A public-interest rationale.
- Supportive interest groups with a hidden financial agenda.
- Negative consequences for the general public.