Constitutional Political Economy

There have been revolutions, and wars have been fought over ideology. Ideological competition at the more benign level of intellectual thought involves different views and theories of the preferred organization of society. In the ideological contest between socialism and capitalism, Marxian theory is consistent with a society being best served by a command economy in a one-party state with collec…

Abstract This paper investigates the extent of political rent seeking in Hungary in the 2010s. Political capitalism —where powerful private interests influence public policy for private gain—creates opportunities for rent seeking that vary across sectors. The analysis is based on a theoretical model assuming rent seeking occurs in a three-stage process: changes in economic institutions granting r…

Abstract To uphold classical liberal values in the 21st century, it is crucial to recognize that the classical liberal tradition itself emerged as a profound response to the crisis of pluralism triggered by the breakdown - during the Protestant Reformation- of a unified and coherent worldview centered around the Catholic Church. Any attempt to address contemporary challenges by drawing on the les…

Abstract This essay was delivered upon the occasion of receiving the James M. Buchanan Distinguished Fellow Award from the Public Choice Society in March 2025. The essay discusses James M. Buchanan's call for a genuine institutional economics and focuses on the research over the past 25 years by my colleagues and myself at the Mercatus Center attempting to develop that research program by focusin…

Abstract Although vaccines are one of the most effective methods by which a government can manage a pandemic, as they significantly reduce the risk of serious illness or death from deadly diseases, for a variety of reasons, many people oppose vaccinations. In this article, I specifically examine the impact of ideology has on vaccine choice, conditional on party institutionalization in a country. …

Abstract This article examines some of the distinct features of Frank H. Knight’s liberalism. While acknowledging the necessity of markets and competition, Knight critiques their potential to shape people’s preferences and foster problematic values, such as excessive rivalry and materialism, that threaten individual agency and social cohesion. For Knight, individual agency means more than merely …

Abstract This paper advances three suggestions from the ‘classics’. First, freedom as autonomy is distinct from the popular idea that freedom consists of the absence of restraint. This is because autonomous action is different to acting instrumentally on desires or preferences. It is action where the person uses reason to reflect on what ends to pursue and the person thereby becomes more fully th…

Abstract In arguably his two major works, published more than a century ago, the social psychologist and co-founder of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Graham Wallas, argued first against utilitarian intellectualism for it being excessively reductionist in the face of complex human psychology, but then for a form of intellectualism to instil in people the reasoning abil…

Abstract This paper explores the evolution of voter turnout, acceptance rates, and the double majority requirement in Swiss national referendums from 1848 to 2022. Given the extensive time frame, the study highlights key developments such as the expansion of voting rights for women, the lowering of the voting age to 18, the varying population growth across cantons (the electoral districts relevan…