Whenever the economic model of behaviour is to be applied, the utility function has – at least somewhat – to be specified. Buchanan generally prefers to apply a rather narrow version. However, he acknowledges that it is hardly possible to explain actual behaviour of individuals with such a...

There is a basic tension between the principle of democracy and the rule of law. This becomes obvious whenever the Swiss citizens accept an initiative that is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. First, we discuss the traditions behind these two principles before we survey...

Paternalism is an attempt to influence the decisions of individuals for their own benefit even if there are no third parties involved. This seems to be a contradiction to normative individualism which provides the general orientation of our modern democracies. Soft or libertarian paternalism...

First, the institutions of direct democracy, referendum and initiative, are described. One of the main arguments against direct political rights is that citizens are often, or even generally, not enough informed or even incompetent to decide on important political issues. Therefore, the problem...

In this paper we deal with two questions, (i) what are the origins of the current financial crisis, and (ii) what did economists contribute, or why did economists fail to provide a convincing answer for the origins of the crisis, and possible solutions to overcome it? Apparently, the economics...

Ökonomen sehen Armut in aller Regel als strukturelles Problem und versuchen, sie mit Wirtschaftswachstum zu überwinden. Nach einer Diskussion verschiedener Armutskonzepte wird daher zunächst auf die Wachstumsproblematik eingegangen und gezeigt, weshalb es Sinn macht, Armut mit strukturellen...

In this paper the approach of Constitutional Economics is presented and some of its applications are shown. First, the concept of the original position (constitutional convention) with its informational restrictions and the unanimity rule are discussed. Next, the exchange paradigm which lies...

The weak rationality principle is not an empirical statement but a heuristic rule how to proceed in social sciences. It is a necessary ingredient of any understanding’ social science in the Weberian sense. In this paper, first this principle and its role in economic theorizing is discussed. It...

First, the problem of defining the government size and theoretical considerations about the relation between this size and economic growth are discussed. Then the international comparative empirical literature as well as the one discussing the Swiss situation are reviewed. Neither of them comes...

Using Swiss data from 1983 to 2008, this paper investigates whether growth rates of the different measures of the quantity of money and or excess money can be used to forecast inflation. After a preliminary data analysis, money demand relations are specified, estimated and tested. Then,...