Journal of Comparative Law

Journal of Comparative Law

An Study of Foundations and Tools of Constitutional Economics and Its Application in the Constitutional Engineering

Document Type : Scientific Paper

Authors
Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei 1
Moslem Aghaei Togh 2
1 Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran
2 PhD student in Public Law, University of Tehran
Abstract
The Research Program of the Constitutional Economics which began in 1970s by now well known work of James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock titled “The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy”, and reached its Golden Age subsequently in 1990s, is founded on methodological individualism and rational choice. It analyzes the rationally expected consequences of alternative constitutional rules by employing the standard method of mainstream economics and its widely recognized analytical techniques, such as Price Theory and Game Theory. This paper presents this research program and emphasizes the need for its application in constitutional engineering.
Constitutional Engineering/Design which means choosing among rules is the most sensitive example of decision-making in a political system. Despite such importance, unfortunately, constitutional theory until now has failed to pay enough attention to the problem of possible political consequences of alternative constitutional rules. This is because in designing a constitution, we need some model to analyze those rationally expected consequences of different alternative rules and predict political behaviors and reactions, and classic theories of constitutional engineering lack such model. 
Keywords
Constitutional Engineering/Design
Constitutional Theory
Constitutional Economics
Economic Analysis
Game Theory

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