This is the first study that assesses the economic effects of direct democratic institutions on a cross country basis. Its results are based on up to six new measures produced to reflect the legislative basis for using direct democratic institutions as well as their factual use. In addition, a...

This study seeks to expand the scope of that portion of Public Choice courses that involves voting behavior. The study broadens the interpretation of the "rational voter model" so as to include the potential effects of "direct democracy" on the voter participation rate. Direct democracy is...

Principal-agent problems can arise when preferences of voters are not aligned with preferences of political representatives. Often the consequence of the political principal-agent problem is political catering to special interests. In this paper I provide examples of principal-agent problems...