Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Constitution: a constitution is the supreme law of a state. It sets out the fundamental principles by which the state is governed, such as the powers of the government, the rights of the citizens, and the relationship between the government and the citizens._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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James M. Buchanan on Constitution - Dictionary of Arguments
Boudreaux I 19 Constitution/Buchanan/Boudreaux/Holcombe: , debt financing is a vehicle for handing the bill to those who will receive the benefits. Free rider/Buchanan: This ability of current taxpayers to use debt financing to free-ride on the wealth of future generations led Buchanan to worry that government today will both spend excessively and fund too many projects with debt. >Moral hazard. Boudreaux I 20 Democracy/Buchanan: Tomorrow’s citizen-taxpayers, after all, are not today’s voters. Thus, the interests of these future generations are under-represented in the political process. To reduce the magnitude of this problem, Buchanan endorsed constitutional rules that oblige governments to annually keep their budgets in balance. Constitution/Buchanan: His fear that the opportunity for debt financing of government projects and programs would be abused was so acute that it led him to endorse a balanced-budget amendment to the US Constitution. - - - Brocker I 567 Constitution/Contracts/Contract Theory/Buchanan: The law transforms only the uneven distribution that has arisen naturally into a legally fixed uneven distribution. Problem: this contractual inequality is still threatened by instability as well, as the parties benefit from breaches of contract. >Inequality/Buchanan, Law/Buchanan). Solution: a superordinate body, a state or, as the case may be, a constitution containing the following elements: 1. Natural equilibrium: for everyone, even for the best-offs, improvements are only possible by contract. 2. Disarmament Contract: Agreement on a mutual restriction of individual freedom of action, thereby reducing costs. 3. Contractual legal constitution: Definition of ownership and disposal rights to land, tangible and intangible means of production. (>Private Law) 4. Contractual state establishment: Establishment of a neutral and non-partisan coercive power. >Rule of law. Brocker I 568 5. Contractual agreement on additional state services. (productive state). State/Buchanan/Kersting: this approach leads to a separation of law and state. The state only stands for the validity of the legal system. Wolfgang Kersting, „James M. Buchanan, Die Grenzen der Freiheit“ in: Manfred Brocker (Hg.) Geschichte des politischen Denkens. Das 20. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt/M. 2018_____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
EconBuchan I James M. Buchanan Politics as Public Choice Carmel, IN 2000 Boudreaux I Donald J. Boudreaux Randall G. Holcombe The Essential James Buchanan Vancouver: The Fraser Institute 2021 Brocker I Manfred Brocker Geschichte des politischen Denkens. Das 20. Jahrhundert Frankfurt/M. 2018 |
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