Readings In Public Choice And Constitutional Political Economy

Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy Charles K. Rowley l Friedrich Schneider Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy 123 Friedrich G. Schneider Universita¨t Linz Inst. Volkswirtschaftslehre Abt. Volkswirtschaftspolitik Altenbergerstr. 69 4040 Linz Austria [email protected] Charles K. Rowley Locke Institute Fairfax, VA 22030 USA and Department of Economics George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia 22030 USA [email protected] ISBN 978-0-387-74574-9 e-ISBN 978-0-387-75870-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008930757 # 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper. 987654321 springer.com We dedicate Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy to the memory of Duncan Black 23 May 1908 to 14 January 1991 The Founding Father of Public Choice v Preface Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the subject known as public choice. However, the title would not convey sufficiently the breadth of the contents, which can be summarized better as the fruitful interchange of economics, political science and moral philosophy on the basis of an image of man as a purposive and responsible actor who pursues his own objectives as efficiently as possible. This fruitful interchange between the fields mentioned above existed i