Constitutional democracy and the theory of agency

Larry Merville and Dale Osborne

Constitutional Political Economy, 1990, vol. 1, issue 3, 47 pages

Abstract: A unanimously adopted democratic constitution is a contract between the people as principal and the government as agent. However, none of the incentive devices employed in private principal-agent contracting assure enforcement of a constitution. Under majority voting, candidates for the job of agent cannot win the job without promising tobreak the contract, and the agent cannot be re-elected unless he keeps that promise. Copyright George Mason University 1990

Date: 1990
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DOI: 10.1007/BF02393239

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