The paper investigates the effects of checks and balances on corruption. Within a presidential system, effective separation of powers is achieved under divided government, with the executive and legislative branches being controlled by different political parties. When government is unified, no...

Acknowledgements -- About the authors -- Introduction / Stephen Balch and Benjamin Powell -- Crisis and government power -- Crisis without leviathan? / Robert Higgs -- The rule of law during times of economic crisis / Todd Zywicki -- Fiscal crisis -- Fiscal crisis as a quality of progressivist...