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Constitutions and Policy Comparisons

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  • David Hugh-Jones

    (Max Planck Institute fur Ökonomik, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany, [email protected])

Abstract

Voters in democracies can learn from the experience of neighbouring states: about policy in a direct democracy (`policy experimentation'), about the quality of their politicians in a representative democracy (`yardstick competition'). Learning between states creates spillovers from policy choice, and also from constitutional choice. I model these spillovers in a simple principal-agent framework, and show that voter welfare may be maximized by a mixture of representative and direct democratic states. Because of this, empirical work examining voter welfare under direct democracy may need to be reinterpreted. Also, I show that the optimal mix of constitutions cannot always be achieved in a constitutional choice equilibrium involving many states.

Suggested Citation

  • David Hugh-Jones, 2009. "Constitutions and Policy Comparisons," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 21(1), pages 25-61, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:21:y:2009:i:1:p:25-61
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629808097283
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Simon Hug, 2009. "Some thoughts about referendums, representative democracy, and separation of powers," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 251-266, September.

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