Are we all playing the same game? The economic effects of constitutions depend on the degree of institutionalization

German Caruso, Carlos Scartascini and Mariano Tommasi

European Journal of Political Economy, 2015, vol. 38, issue C, 212-228

Abstract: This paper addresses an important source of variation within democracies — the degree of institutionalization. The concept of institutionalization describes the extent to which politics takes place, and is believed to take place, via formal political institutions. Countries vary in their degree of institutionalization, hence, in the degree to which political actors pursue their goals via conventional politics or via “alternative political technologies”. This paper postulates that if politics is conducted largely outside of formal channels, the structure of the formal channels should not matter much as a determinant of policy outcomes. To address this issue this paper proposes a new index of institutionalization and with it revisits seminal work regarding the impact of constitutions on public spending. The findings show that the effect of constitutional rules on policy outcomes is conditional on the degree of institutionalization.

Keywords: Political economy; Institutionalization; Political institutions; Government expenditure; Alternative political technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 E62 H10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Are We All Playing the Same Game?: The Economic Effects of Constitutions Depend on the Degree of Institutionalization (2013)
Working Paper: Are We All Playing the Same Game? The Economic Effects of Constitutions Depend on the Degree of Institutionalization (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:38:y:2015:i:c:p:212-228

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2015.02.007

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