<p>For posterity, I found a paper titled &quot;Protection For Sale&quot;, by
Gene M. Grossman &amp; Elhanan Helpman.</p>
<p>In it, special interest groups make political contributions in exchange for tariff protection, and there's an equilibrium: <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w4149" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nber.org/papers/w4149</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-22T20:38:43.553Z
2024-08-22T20:38:43.553Z
one_teach_wonder
<p>I've recently learned about Olson's Collective Action Theory and I'm interested in mathematic models of economies that follow the theory's axioms. I tried finding a general equilibrium macro model with at least two agents in scholar.google.com, to no avail.</p>
<p>I also tried constructing a simple economy myself but it's quite tricky. I tried to make it through general taxes that are distributed depending on interest groups but I can't get the cost of big groups right. I also can't get any interesting features out of it.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of macro models that fit with Olson's theory?</p>
<p>Edit: Folks asked for a bit more clarification. I'm not asking for multi agent economic models in general, but for models that try to follow some of Olson's ideas. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action_theory#Olson%27s_theory_of_collective_action" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia can do a better rendition of these</a>, but some lines of work could be:</p>
<ul>
<li>Small group sizes can have diminished utility because of less pooled resources or &quot;lobby-power&quot;, but large group sizes have increasing transaction costs. So, we should expect a large number of groups at some optimal size. The effect of this &quot;corporatist&quot; economy on welfare could be calculated as well. This is what I'm most interested in finding.</li>
<li>The larger a population, the greater the chance people will try to free-ride, leading to reduced resources and a worse outcome in the long run. This seems more like a Macro 1 problem than something that goes to a paper, though.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-20T11:07:38.793Z
Would help if you would list the axioms of the theory, also there are plenty multiple agents macro models and even general equilibrium optimal taxation models (where by necessity you will have heterogenous individuals), I can’t believe that you were not able to find a general equilibrium macro model with multiple heterogenous agents on google scholar unless you are having some specific definition of macro model or agent you don’t mention in the question.
1muflon1
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-21T17:34:55.153Z
Added two ideas directly from Wikipedia's page on Collective Action Theory, with a strong preference over one. It should suffice for the purposes of getting an answer.
one_teach_wonder
<macroeconomics><general-equilibrium>
Is there any macroeconomic model based on Olson's collective action theory?
one_teach_wonder
# Is there any macroeconomic model based on Olson's collective action theory?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-20)

I've recently learned about Olson's Collective Action Theory and I'm interested in mathematic models of economies that follow the theory's axioms. I tried finding a general equilibrium macro model with at least two agents in scholar.google.com, to no avail.

I also tried constructing a simple economy myself but it's quite tricky. I tried to make it through general taxes that are distributed depending on interest groups but I can't get the cost of big groups right. I also can't get any interesting features out of it.

Does anyone know of macro models that fit with Olson's theory?

Edit: Folks asked for a bit more clarification. I'm not asking for multi agent economic models in general, but for models that try to follow some of Olson's ideas. [Wikipedia can do a better rendition of these](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action_theory#Olson%27s_theory_of_collective_action), but some lines of work could be:

* Small group sizes can have diminished utility because of less pooled resources or "lobby-power", but large group sizes have increasing transaction costs. So, we should expect a large number of groups at some optimal size. The effect of this "corporatist" economy on welfare could be calculated as well. This is what I'm most interested in finding.
* The larger a population, the greater the chance people will try to free-ride, leading to reduced resources and a worse outcome in the long run. This seems more like a Macro 1 problem than something that goes to a paper, though.

**Tags:** macroeconomics, general-equilibrium

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Would help if you would list the axioms of the theory, also there are plenty multiple agents macro models and even general equilibrium optimal taxation models (where by necessity you will have heterogenous individuals), I can’t believe that you were not able to find a general equilibrium macro model with multiple heterogenous agents on google scholar unless you are having some specific definition of macro model or agent you don’t mention in the question.  
> **username_0**: Added two ideas directly from Wikipedia's page on Collective Action Theory, with a strong preference over one. It should suffice for the purposes of getting an answer.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2024-08-22. Score: 0

For posterity, I found a paper titled "Protection For Sale", by
Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman.

In it, special interest groups make political contributions in exchange for tariff protection, and there's an equilibrium: <https://www.nber.org/papers/w4149>


---

