Constitutional Economics and Public Institutions

Edited by Francisco Cabrillo, Department of Applied Economics, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain and Miguel A. Puchades-Navarro, Department of Applied Economics, University of Valencia, Spain

• Contents: ForewordPeter BoettkeIntroduction Francisco Cabrillo and Miguel A. Puchades-Navarro PART I: FOUNDATIONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS 1. Presuppositions in the Evaluation of RulesJames M. Buchanan 2. Buchanan, Hobbes and Contractarianism: The Supply of Rules?Geoffrey Brennan and Giuseppe Eusepi PART II: CONSTITUTIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY: CASE STUDIES 3. Economic Governance in the European Union. A Problem of LegitimacyFrancisco Cabrillo and Sean Fitzpatrick 4. Early Spanish Liberalism and Constitutional Political Economy: The Cádiz Constitution of 1812Roger D. Congleton 5. Reforms and Decentralization: Friends or Foes?Pierre Salmon6. Democracy-Preserving Institutions: The Quasi-federal System of South AfricaGiorgio Brosio PART III: POLITICAL COMPETITION AND VOTING 7. On Machiavelli′s Conspiracy ParadoxesManfred J. Holler 8. A General Measure of the ‘Effective’ Number of Parties in a Political SystemVani K. Borooah 9. Party Competition and Electoral Turnout: Downs’s Calculus in a Multiparty SystemJuha Helin and Hannu Nurmi PART IV: PUBLIC CHOICE AND PUBLIC POLICY 10. The Political Economy of Dutch Disease: A SurveyMartin Paldam 11. Higher Education as Private Good and as Quasi Public Good: The Case of Italy Silvia Fedeli and Francesco Forte 12. The Actual Role of Government Intervention for the Recovery of the Italian EconomyGian Cesare Romagnoli 13. Government Bankruptcy of Balkan Nations and the Consequences for Money and Inflation Before 1914: A Comparative AnalysisPeter Bernholz PART V: EXTENSIONS IN PUBLIC CHOICE THEORY 14. Regulator Preferences and Lobbying Efforts in Rent-seeking ContestsJuan D. Montoro-Pons 15. Cooperation in Multilateral PDs: Self-selected vs. Pre-defined GroupsViktor J. Vanberg 16. Voluntary Provision of Public GoodsMiguel A. Puchades-Navarro 17. Awards Play an Important RoleBruno S. Frey and Susanne Neckermann 18. The Optimal Babel: An Economic Framework for the Analysis of Dynamic Language RightsBengt-Arne Wickström 19. A Theory of Conversion to Exclusive Religions and Political FaithsMario FerreroIndex