Previous empirical literature has shown that in order to overcome agency problems voters make inter-jurisdictional comparisons of fiscal performance when making electoral decisions. Incumbents therefore anticipate voters' feedback by copying fiscal policy decisions from neighbors. This paper...

Should economic policy be guided by rules? In this paper, we take the perspective of the Freiburg School and trace its argument for rule-based Ordnungspolitik back to the roots of the concept. In doing so, will not offer a comprehensive review of the literature, but argue closely along the works...

Recent contributions to the economics of terrorism have given contradicting recommendations for campaigning against terrorism, from the proposal to deprive terrorists of their resources to the proposal of raising the opportunity costs of terrorism by increasing the wealth of the affected...

We discuss the effect of formal political institutions (electoral systems, fiscal decentralization, presidential and parliamentary regimes) on the extent and direction of income (re-)distribution. Empirical evidence is presented for a large sample of 70 economies and a panel of 13 OECD countries...

James Buchanan would have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2019. This serves as an inspiration to look at the future of public choice and the question of how much normativity public choice can bear. In our analysis we draw parallels between public choice and German ordoliberalism (and its source...

This is the introduction to the special issue "The Freiburg School and the Virginia School: The Research Programs of Ordnungsökonomik and Constitutional Political Economy". It provides opening remarks and a brief overview of the individual articles.