Supermajority rule and the law of 1/n

Dongwon Lee ()

Public Choice, 2015, vol. 164, issue 3, 274 pages

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of a supermajority rule on the law of 1/n, which posits that a larger number of districts increases the size of government. Our analysis suggests that supermajority rule, despite the claim that it restrains excessive spending, increases the 1/n effect, because qualified majorities require logrolling to attract additional members. Using data from US states from 1970 to 2007, we find that the adoption of a supermajority rule has a robust, worsening effect on the fiscal commons problem identified by the law of 1/n. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Keywords: Law of 1/n; Supermajority rule; Budget institutions; Public expenditures; D72; H72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-015-0271-x

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