A note on rent dissipation in lottery contests

Rent dissipation is a measure of the social loss in rent-seeking contests and therefore is the main source of interest in the rent-seeking literature. We derive narrow bounds for the amount of rent dissipation in a sequential lottery contest with n identical players and show that it is larger than in the corresponding simultaneous contest. Hence, sequential moves in contests increase the social loss from rent-seeking behavior. •We study rent-dissipation in lottery contests.•We derive narrow bounds for rent dissipation in a sequential lottery contest.•Dissipation is shown to be greater than in the corresponding simultaneous contest.