Constitutional Political Economy

by Stefan Voigt

Overview

This authoritative new collection includes the most important published articles on the normative and positive branches of constitutional political economy.

It contains sections on the ideas and concepts of constitutions, on the process of creating and amending them, a variety of papers on both the horizontal as well as the vertical separation of powers, and a final section on the relevance of constitutions for economic outcomes. The editor has written an authoritative introduction which contains a broad bibliography on all aspects of constitutional political economy.

This two-volume set will be especially welcome in the field of constitutional political economy since it is a research area which crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. It will be useful to those teaching a course in constitutional political economy as well as economists, political scientists, legal scholars, and political philosophers doing research in this area.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843761723
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	12/29/2003
Series:	The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics series , #166
Pages:	1088
Product dimensions:	6.62(w) x 9.62(h) x (d)

About the Author

Edited by Stefan Voigt, Director, Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg, Germany

Table of Contents

Contents:
Volume I
Acknowledgements
Introduction Stefan Voigt
PART I THE IDEA OF A CONSTITUTION / JUSTIFYING THE CONSTITUTION / PHILOSOPHICAL BASES
1. James M. Buchanan (1990), ‘The Domain of Constitutional Economics’
2. James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock (1962), ‘A Generalized Economic Theory of Constitutions’
3. Geoffrey Brennan and Alan Hamlin (1995), ‘Constitutional Political Economy: The Political Philosophy of Homo Economicus?’
4. Geoffrey Brennan and Alan Hamlin (1995), ‘Economizing on Virtue’
5. Viktor Vanberg and James M. Buchanan (1989), ‘Interests and Theories in Constitutional Choice’
6. Dennis C. Mueller (2001), ‘The Importance of Uncertainty in a Two-stage Theory of Constitutions’
7. Richard A. Posner (1987), ‘The Constitution as an Economic Document’
8. Knut Wicksell (1958), ‘A New Principle of Just Taxation’
PART II CONCEPTS OF THE CONSTITUTION
9. James M. Buchanan (1959), ‘Positive Economics, Welfare Economics, and Political Economy’
10. Russell Hardin (1989), ‘Why a Constitution?’
11. Peter C. Ordeshook (1992), ‘Constitutional Stability’
12. Barry R. Weingast (1993), ‘Constitutions as Governance Structures: The Political Foundations of Secure Markets’
13. Stefan Voigt (1999), ‘Breaking with the Notion of Social Contract: Constitutions as Based on Spontaneously Arisen Institutions’
PART III CREATING AND AMENDING CONSTITUTIONS
14. Dennis C. Mueller (1991), ‘Constitutional Rights’
15. Tim R. Sass (1992), ‘Constitutional Choice in Representative Democracies’
16. Douglas D. Heckathorn and Steven M. Maser (1987), ‘Bargaining and Constitutional Contracts’
17. Larry J. Merville and Dale K. Osborne (1990), ‘Constitutional Democracy and the Theory of Agency’
18. Robert A. McGuire and Robert L. Ohsfeldt (1989), ‘Self-Interest, Agency Theory, and Political Voting Behavior: The Ratification of the United States Constitution’
19. Donald J. Boudreaux and A.C. Pritchard (1993), ‘Rewriting the Constitution: An Economic Analysis of the Constitutional Amendment Process’
20. Stefan Voigt (1999), ‘Bargaining for Constitutional Change – Toward an Economic Theory of Constitutional Change’
Name Index

Volume II
Acknowledgements
An introduction by the editor to both volumes appears in Volume I
PART I ON THE HORIZONTAL SEPARATION OF POWERS
1. Geoffrey Brennan and Alan Hamlin (1994), ‘A Revisionist View of the Separation of Powers’
2. Torsten Persson, Gérard Roland and Guido Tabellini (1997), ‘Separation of Powers and Political Accountability’
3. William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner (1975), ‘The Independent Judiciary in an Interest-Group Perspective’
4. Eli M. Salzberger (1993), ‘A Positive Analysis of the Doctrine of Separation of Powers, or: Why Do We Have An Independent Judiciary?’
5. J. Mark Ramseyer (1994), ‘The Puzzling (In)dependence of Courts: A Comparative Approach’
6. Robert D. Cooter and Tom Ginsburg (1996), ‘Comparative Judicial Discretion: An Empirical Test of Economic Models’
7. James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock (1962), ‘The Bicameral Legislature’
8. Gary J. Miller and Thomas H. Hammond (1989), ‘Stability and Efficiency in a Separation-of-Powers Constitutional System’
9. Saul Levmore (1992), ‘Bicameralism: When Are Two Decisions Better than One?’
PART II THE ECONOMICS OF SECESSION AND OF FEDERALISM
10. Cass R. Sunstein (1991), ‘Constitutionalism and Secession’
11. Yan Chen and Peter C. Ordeshook (1994), ‘Constitutional Secession Clauses’
12. Barry R. Weingast (1995), ‘The Economic Role of Political Institutions: Market-Preserving Federalism and Economic Development’
13. Roland Vaubel (1996), ‘Constitutional Safeguards Against Centralization in Federal States: An International Cross-Section Analysis’
PART III CONSTITUTIONS AND ECONOMIC OUTCOMES
14. Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi (1993), ‘Political Regimes and Economic Growth’
15. Jon Elster (1995), ‘The Impact of Constitutions on Economic Performance’
16. Stephen Knack and Philip Keefer (1995), ‘Institutions and Economic Performance: Cross-Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Measures’
17. Jakob de Haan and Jan-Egburt Sturm (2000), ‘On the Relationship Between Economic Freedom and Economic Growth’
18. Lars P. Feld and Marcel R. Savioz (1997), ‘Direct Democracy Matters for Economic Performance: An Empirical Investigation’
Name Index

Editorial Reviews

'This is a wonderful collection on constitutional political economy. It contains works by all of the major scholars in the field, and it covers the material in a comprehensive manner. There is also a very useful introduction by Professor Voigt, with an extensive bibliography that could easily serve as a reading list for courses in this area. I strongly recommend these volumes to persons working on and teaching constitutional political economy.'

Robert D. Tollison

'By bringing together, from a variety of diverse and broadly scattered sources, papers and chapters on constitutional political economy, Stefan Voigt has not only rendered a great service to scholars working on the subject, he has at the same time documented how the issues though varied are complementary. The collection also makes apparent how the treatment of constitutional problems has evolved; it is so wide-ranging that it is possible that some political economy students of constitutions may discover analytical dimensions of the subject that had hitherto escaped their attention. It will, no doubt, supply some with new topics for reflection and research. Voigt's introduction is masterful. Though all the papers and chapters have been published previously, the two volumes make a genuine contribution.'

Albert Breton