In his famous book on a theory of justice, John Rawls argues that under some special conditions, referred to as an “original position,†people would unanimously choose as a principle of distributive justice, the principle of maximizing the welfare of the worst-off individual in the...

In several Eastern European countries the breakdown of communism in 1989 was followed by a surprising return to power of postcommunist parties. Yet, some electoral victories of postcommunists look puzzling when contrasted with a small size of a shift in voters' preferences that has led to them....