Why is there so little money in politics? If a government subsidy is worth, say, a billion dollars to certain stakeholders, then we might expect them to spend nearly that amount in lobbying and bribes to secure its success.

Generally, this doesn’t happen. The potential beneficiary of a policy will typically spend only a small fraction of its value to bring it about. Economist Gordon Tullock first pointed this out in 1980; the reasons for it are still debated.