The Rise and Decline of Mancur Olson's View of the Rise and Decline of Nations (Symposium‪)‬

1. Introduction Although the first book by Mancur Lloyd Olson, Jr., (1) The Logic of Collective Action (1965), has been cited more often and can be viewed as more fundamentally innovative at the theoretical level, its successor, The Rise and Decline of Nations (1982) has been more widely translated and is arguably the magnum opus of his career, the grand application of his earlier ideas to the world and history at large. (2) The earlier work laid out the problems that groups have in their collective goals as they grow larger, with a greater disjuncture arising between the interests of the individual and of the collective group. In the final chapter of this work, he suggested that his argument could lead to an overturning of the "orthodox" theory of pressure groups that saw them as a positive force for democracy and efficiency (Luce 1924; Commons 1950). Special interest groups representing small numbers of firms in oligopolistic industries could support monopolistic or protectionist legislation. Such legislation could damage the broader economy, especially groups unable to organize themselves that would then have to "suffer in silence." Although Olson rarely used the term, this argument can be seen as foreshadowing the later theory of rent-seeking, and in his later works, he more openly recognized the affinity of his ideas with the public choice school of thought. (3)