Crony capitalism

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Crony capitalism, sometimes also called simply cronyism, is a pejorative term used in political discourse to describe a situation in which businesses profit from a close relationship with state power, either through an anti-competitive regulatory environment, direct government largesse, and/or corruption. Examples given for crony capitalism include obtainment of permits, government grants,^[1] tax breaks,^[1] or other undue influence from businesses over the state's deployment of public goods, for example, mining concessions for primary commodities or contracts for public works.^[2] In other words, it is used to describe a situation where businesses thrive not as a result of free enterprise, but rather collusion between a business class and the political class.^[3][4]

Wealth is then accumulated not merely by making a profit in the market, but through profiteering by rent seeking using this monopoly or oligopoly. Entrepreneurship and innovative practices which seek to reward risk are stifled since the value-added is little by crony businesses^{[citation needed]}, as hardly anything of significant value is created by them^{[citation needed]}, with transactions taking the form of trading^{[clarification needed]}. Crony capitalism spills over into the government, the politics, and the media,^[5] when this nexus distorts the economy and affects society to an extent it corrupts public-serving economic, political, and social ideals.^{[6][clarification needed]}