The states have to compete like corporations.
States run inefficiently will have jobs, capital, and whatever moved to China.
So the president is like the CEO. The customers are the population, the businesses. The stock holders are of course the citizens.
I've heard Indonesia's finance minister think that way.
Some variants of capitalism, like georgism, even advocate giving citizenship dividend.
However, georgism is more involved with "land" ownership.
Anyone see the state like a for-profit corporation? For example, a state may decide that prostitution is tax worthy. Rather than legalizing it outright or prohibiting it, the state may think, ah, let's just tax it and improve my stock holders' dividend.
Are there states where citizens can sell their citizenships like stock owners sell their stocks?