Checks and balances in socialist countries

Yang Zhou

Chapter 19 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Choice, 2025, pp 134-138 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The public choice literature has focused on the Western context, while the approach can also be applied to socialist countries. This chapter first clarifies the definition of “socialist countries” as the Soviet-style regime, essentially a mercantilist society featuring rent-seeking activities. Because of the knowledge problem, the collective action problem, the principal-agent problem, and so on, socialist regimes also need “checks and balances,” which can be both vertical and horizontal. The chapter details this with simple examples of the former Soviet Union and contemporary China, agents that have subjective utility and rational choices, which should be studied with methodological individualism.

Keywords: Checks and Balances; Separation of Power; Socialism; Knowledge Problem; Collective Action Problem; Principal-Agent Problem (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781802207743
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