Is "rule of law" anything more than a fictional allusion? After all, "law" is an abstract noun, and abstract nouns can't rule. Only people can rule. Rule of law is a fiction, one that has been around since ancient times. Whether, or under what circumstances, rule of law might be an ideal type...

This essay accepts the normative vision Richard Epstein sets forth in The Classical Liberal Constitution, but refracts that vision through some considerations of positive political economy. In response to a questioner who asked at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention what kind of...

1. Contemporary Democracy and the Prospect for Fiscal Control: Initial thoughts about and Final Reactions to the Conference -- 2. Starving the Leviathan: Balanced Budget Prescriptions Before Keynes -- Comments -- 3. The Decline of the Budget-Balancing Doctrine or How the Good Guys Finally Lost...