Despite the Founding Fathers' careful planning, the reason for the public's lack of confidence in Congress is that elections, like the institutional checks and balances of federalism and separation of powers, are necessary but not sufficient to ensure that Congress acts in the best interests of...

Democratic governments can be either national or federal in form. Whether the form of democracy matters, how it matters if, indeed, it does matter, and for whom it might matter are the types of questions this paper explores. Federalism is generally described as a pro-liberty form of government....

Can parliaments make an effective contribution to the budget process while preserving fiscal discipline? Increasing budget transparency and anchoring fiscal responsibility are critical tasks for emerging economies seeking to enhance fiscal governance and curb corruption. Largely neglected in the...

Economists have long recognized the need for durability-enhancing mechanisms to facilitate political exchange, but the focus has been almost entirely on mechanisms that raise the cost of reneging on bargains once they have been struck. What happens if these mechanisms fail? This paper argues...

I present a theory of political property rights that serves as a complement to familiar Tiebout mechanisms in explaining governance outcomes. I argue that when the structure of political property rights is such that the polity most closely resembles a business corporation, governance will be...

Korean Abstract: 본 연구는 지방교부세제도에서는 어떤 자치단체장이라도 지방교부금의 상한까지 사용하려 하고 재원이 다른 용도로 사용될 가능성이 상대적으로 높다는 측면에서 지방세를 통한 지방재원 조달의 경우보다...

Adam Smith proposed three contradictory theories of the British Empire in the Wealth of Nations. The first view holds that the empire was created for merchants eager to monopolize the colonial trade. Smith concludes that “Great Britain derives nothing but loss” from the colonies. In the...

With few exceptions, representative party democracy is dysfunctional due to structural deficiencies like “the impossibility of representation in groups”, “the asymmetry of information”, “the state capture by political parties”, and the “uncoordinated administrative polycentrism”....

Recent studies in psychology and neuroscience find that fictional works exert strong influence on readers and shape their opinions and worldviews. We study the Potterian economy, which we compare to economic models, to assess how Harry Potter books affect economic literacy. We find that some...

Recent studies in psychology and neuroscience find that fictional works exert strong influence on readers and shape their opinions and worldviews. We study the Potterian economy, which we compare to economic models, to assess how Harry Potter books affect economic literacy. We find that some...