Dynamic consistency in constitutions

The existence of procedures to amend constitutions, which are expected at their writing to last for many years, means that amendments that are accepted may not harmonise with the intent of the rest of the constitution. This dynamic inconsistency can be guarded against by asking the constitution to be approved by the method of amendment. Nations whose approval methods differ widely from the amending procedure may find their constitutions suffer from dynamic inconsistency and may be unstable. Copyright Center for Study of Public Choice Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 1974