State Capture and Rent-Seeking in Benin

Benin is a small slow-growing economy whose development relies on three sources of rent, controlled by self-centered elites. Patrimonialism governs the Beninese society as a forceful struggle for political power takes place between the oligarchs who control these sources and use them as formidable levers of power. Benin and State Capture in a Rent-Based Society argues that this struggle causes the instability and unpredictability of economic policies, resulting in a series of institutional problems that make economic diversification and growth difficult. Based on a thorough account of the economic, social and political development of Benin, this institutional diagnostic provides a detailed analysis of its critical institution- and development-sensitive areas such as electoral campaign finance and state capture by business and elites, management issues of a dominant sector, the tax effort, the critical role of informal trading between Benin and Nigeria, and the political economy of land reform. This title is also available as Open Access.