"To Promote the General Welfare": Addressing Political Corruption in America

Bruce Owen ()

No 15-027, Discussion Papers from Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Systemic (but lawful) political corruption reduces well-being and equity in America. Madisonian democracy is no longer capable of containing such corruption. Proposals currently on the table to stem corruption are unlikely to be effective without undermining foundational rights. This essay describes a new approach - regulating the output of corrupted legislative and administrative processes, rather than the inputs. Providing for substantive ex post review of direct and delegated legislation would be far more protective of the "general welfare" of the People than other reforms, while no more or less difficult to implement.

Keywords: Madisonian democracy; political economy; separation of powers; public choice; constitutional economics; constitutional law; political corruption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 D82 H1 H83 K1 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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