A rich array of institutional diversity makes the United States an excellent place to study the relationship between political institutions and public policy outcomes. This essay has three main aims. First, it reviews existing empirical evidence on the relationship between institutional rules,...

Over the past four decades, the accumulation of policy legacies and public debt has led to a decline in fiscal flexibility in Germany and the United States. By applying an index of fiscal democracy to Germany, the paper illustrates the associated shrinkage of democratic control over budget...

In existing models of direct democratic institutions, the median voter benefits, but representative politicians are harmed since their policy choices can be overridden. This is a puzzle, since representative politicians were instrumental in creating these institutions. I build a model of direct...

Democratic capitalism has become the popular paradigm in the modern world, and it is spreading further through globalization. It is a model based on growth, expansion and constant innovation. However, it is accompanied by social problems which may worsen despite overall gains in wealth. In this...

Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt zunächst in Abschnitt 2 einen kursorischen Überblick über den aktuellen Stand der empirischen Forschung zum Einfluss der Medien auf Wahrnehmung und Verhalten. Dabei wird insbesondere auf den politischen Kontext fokussiert. Sodann werden einige Forschungsarbeiten...

Gerade in Demokratien spielen Medien eine wichtige Rolle. So hat die Medienberichterstattung einen nicht unerheblichen Einfluss auf die Wahrnehmung und die Entscheidungen der Bürger als Konsumenten, Unternehmer oder Wähler. Wenngleich dies bereits viele vom Gefühl her bejahen würden, gibt es...