I concede the finer point. It's probably true that rent seeking can be accomplished with the intervention of government as such. I maintain that, because gover

I concede the finer point. It's probably true that rent seeking can be accomplished with the intervention of government as such. I maintain that, because government is so accessible and because they carry such a big stick, the vast, vast portion of rent seeking is accomplished by subverting government regulation. That said, I'm up-voting your reply because it is a relevant argument. I just watched a TED video with Paul Romer where he talked about the effect of societal rules on development: not just governmental laws, but broader societal norms that might prevent progress.