This refers to an apparent paradox where the cost or price paid to obtain rent-seeking favours from the government is far lower than the monetary benefits that could be obtained from such bribery. The Tullock paradox is used to wonder why the world is not more corrupt than it is already given the benefits derived from rent-seeking. Many reasons have been cited to explain the paradox. One of them is that the cost of seeking favours from the government is lowered by competition between politicians to pocket bribes from citizens. Politicians demanding lower bribes can outcompete those demanding higher bribes, thus limiting corruption.
