Political Learning: The Neglected Precondition of Constitutional Reform

This paper analyses the claim of constitutional economics that liberal economic policy requires far-reaching constitutional reform. The paper starts with a restatement of this claim and reinforces the rationale of the currently most influential variants of constitutional economics as represented by contractarian constitutional economics (Brennan, Buchanan), on the one hand, and Hayek s evolutionary theory, on the other. However, these constitutional proposals have shortcomings because the institutional preconditions of constitutional reform are not sufficiently reflected. Instead, I argue that, in face of economic crisis, a revision of in-period politics requires no more collective rationality than constitutional reform does. As a consequence, the introduction of new constitutional rules depends on political learning. The article concludes that constitutional rules in the sense of CPE can stabilise political learning but they cannot replace it.     

Open gaps,metrization and utility

Summary It is shown that each of the Debreu Open Gap Theorem and the Debreu Continuous Utility Representation Theorem can be used in order to prove the other. Furthermore, it is proved that the classical Alexandroff-Urysohn Metrization Theorem implies Debreu's Continuous Utility Representation Theorem and, thus, all known results on the existence of continuous utility functions.     

International environmental policy perspectives for the nineties

Indications of a fundamental change in the climate, worsening pollution of international waters, destruction of the atmosphere, and other disconcerting changes in the environment are international problems that know no boundaries and affect the global community. Nevertheless there exist hardly any plans for concerted action. Environmental problems are still being handled mainly on a national scale. The road to an international environmental policy is long and fraught with conflict.     

The functional form of the consumption equation for Austria

Zusammenfassung In unserer Studie Consumer Behaviour in Austria konnten wir auf die Frage, ob für Österreich eine lineare oder eine log-lineare Konsumfunktion besser geeignet wäre, keine eindeutige Antwort geben. Die Unterschiede in den statistischen Kriterien und in der Prognosegenauigkeit für diese beiden konkurrierenden Funktionstypen waren so minimal, daß damit eine Entscheidung für einen der beiden Ansätze nicht gerechtfertigt werden konnte.In der vorliegenden Arbeit beschäftigten wir uns erneut mit der Frage, welcher Funktionstyp das Verhalten der österreichischen Konsumenten am besten erklärt. Nur beschränken wir uns diesmal nicht auf einen Test linearer und log-linearer Konsumfunktionen allein. Wir untersuchen vielmehr eine ganze Familie möglicher Konsumfunktionen, nämlich die aus einer Potenztransformation der Variablen resultierenden Funktionstypen. Lineare und log-lineare Konsumfunktionen sind dann Spezialfälle dieser größeren Familie von Funktionstypen.

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The authors wish to thank ProfessorsK. Rothschild, E. Streissler, andG. Tintner for their helpful comments.     

Identification structure of linear structural models

In this paper identification problems in linear structural models are discussed. A special but practically important form of these problems, the structural identifiability, is defined. Thereafter it is shown that this problem can be studied — without empirical data — by a set system defined on the set of free parameters of a model. This set system is the identification structure, or the matroid, of the model. It gives insight into the dependence of unidentified parameters. The advantages of this approach in research planning and in correcting nonidentifiable models is demonstrated. Finally we introduce the FORTRAN program LISRAN, which is designed to analyze a given linear structural model and to provide its identification structure.