An article in the Economist magazine on the work of James Buchanan made the following observation: "It was important ... to understand the ways that government could fail systematically."
a. What does government failure mean in this context? How does public choice theory help us to understand how government could fail systematically?
b. The same article notes that: "Rent-seeking is a very useful concept to have around when thinking about policy." What is rent seeking? Why is the concept useful when thinking about policy?