Survey of Interest Groups Influence in an Economy

Abstract

The role of special interest groups (SIGs) is a major area of research for economists, political scientists, sociologists and historians. The interest of economists mainly focus on the incentives that encourage the creation and development of these groups and the effect on domestic growth. In a pioneering book, “The rise and decline of nations”, Mancur Olson describes in-detail the macroeconomic impact of the activities of these groups. In this article, a survey is carried out with regard to the miscellaneous factors referred to in the bibliography which affect the formation of SIG's and their subsequent influence on the economy of each individual country. The aim is to underline all the variables that have been used in the literature to estimate how interest groups affect the domestic economy.