It is common wisdom that the process of globalization has intensified competition among governments. The precise nature of such competition is, however, less well understood. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the competitive pressure that globalization exerts on governments affects the...

This paper is an exercise in conceptual clarification. Its purpose is to explore the contribution that constitutional economics can make to the theory of democracy. Constitutional economics as the economics of rules is concerned with the study of how the choice of rules in the social, economic...

1. Vorspann: Wie viele von Ihnen wissen werden, bin ich von Hause aus Soziologe. All meine akademischen Abschlüsse, Diplom, Promotion und Habilitation, habe ich in diesem Fach erworben. Und Sie werden auch wissen, dass ich in den vergangenen dreizehn Jahren hier in Freiburg den Lehrstuhl...

The growth of the democratic welfare state has been accompanied by significant restrictions on individual liberty, raising doubts about the sustainability of the ideals of liberalism in democratic polities. The principal claim of this paper is that, adequately understood, liberalism and...