Constitutional Economics

Stefan Voigt is a professor at the University of Hamburg, director of its Institute of Law & Economics, and editor of Constitutional Political Economy.

• Introduction; 1. Conceptual Foundations; 2. Democracy vs. Autocracy; 3. Positive Constitutional Economics; 4. Conclusions – and Possible Future Issues; Appendix 1. Coding Countries According to Two Governance Scores; Appendix 2. Empirical Results at a Glance: Constitutional Rules as Explanatory Variables, Cross-Country Results Unless Otherwise Noted

'Over the last 30 years or so, 'constitutional political economy' has emerged as an important branch of political economy, or more broadly political science and economics. This Primer presents a comprehensive survey of the diverse literatures that are relevant for the field. Although primarily designed for use in the classroom, it provides an excellent introduction to the field for scholars unfamiliar with this literature. Moreover, Stefan Voigt surveys such a vast number of relevant contributions that even scholars working within the field will discover works with which they were unfamiliar.' Dennis Mueller, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Vienna