Decide which of these labels best fits each of the following situations: rent-seeking, corruption, or bureaucratic capture. (If more than one is potentially applicable, pick the one that is the most narrowly tailored to the scenario.)
a. A contract manager at a government department is bribed to ensure that his friend’s company gets a construction contract even though it was not the lowest bidder.
b. A senior-citizens group lobbies the city government to spend more on special public-transit shuttles for the elderly.
c. The president appoints a former head of an investment bank to the Securities and Exchange Commission (which oversees capital markets and enforces financial regulations).
d. The head of a local teachers’ union offers support to a political candidate in exchange for her promise to spend more of the state budget on teacher salaries.