Does Constitution Making Matter? The Economics of Writing Social Contracts

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jerg Gutmann
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics ; Public Law
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 525707184

Constitutional economics has in recent decades become an important strand of research within economics. Whereas economics in general tends to study choices within given rules, constitutional economics has put the choice of rules and their consequences on the research agenda. Constitutional economics has evolved much over the years, from normative studies of desirable rules to a positive research agenda that uses quantitative data and statistics to test theoretical hypotheses, oftentimes derived from formal theoretical models. Empirical research in constitutional economics started out being interested in the effects of constitutional rules and more recently moved towards asking when and why constitutional rules are enforced by the government. This research project wants to return to the original question of (normative) constitutional economics: Which constitutional rules are chosen and why? However, we aspire to answer this question empirically (i.e., positively) and try to understand how the choice of rules in practice affects the success of constitutions (their longevity, politicians’ compliance, etc.). This is different from the approach taken by the founders of constitutional economics, James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, who were more interested in theoretical efficiency considerations and a normative foundation for the legitimacy of constitutional rules. The first part of our research project will rely on quantitative (econometric) analyses of observational data from countries around the world. It is our goal to move significantly beyond the existing studies by extending the data on constitution-making and using it to test some questions that have been studied before, but also a variety of queries that have never been addressed in empirical research, such as whether procedures of constitution making influence whether constitutions are later complied with. The second part of our research project uses experimental methodology to test how the procedures of constitution making affect the legitimacy of constitutional rules in a controlled setting. This part of the research project will rely both on conjoint survey experiments conducted in an online setting, as well as laboratory experiments. The use of experimental methods in constitutional economics has to date been rare, so the project may be regarded as bringing additionally a methodological contribution in this respect.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Poland
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Stefan Voigt
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Dr. Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska