Rent-Seeking, New Political Economy and-Negation of Politics

The concept of rent-seeking is a direct by-product of the new political economy which started out as a development of the old 'interest group or elite theory of politics. There is nothing particularly novel about the idea of earning rent as an obstacle to progress What is note is a deliberate restriction and in some cases an arbitrary redefinition of the concept of rent-seeking and its application to denigrate all government intervention and virtually abolish the domain of politics in the LDCs (and in the developed economies as well).