Purpose: Do budget institutions play a role in explaining why government effectiveness is higher in some advanced countries than in others? Design/methodology/approach: Employing an original panel data set that covers four years (1991, 2003, 2007 and 2012), we find that budget centralization is...

This paper presents a new data set on constitutional commitments to social rights (CCSR) for 68 countries. Quantitative indices are constructed for five social rights: the right to social security, education, health, housing and workers rights. We find two clear groups classified by legal...