In his treatise, The Constitution of Liberty (1960), F. A. Hayek emphasized the central role of the generality principle, as embodied in the rule of law, for the maintenance of a free society. This book extends Hayek's argument by applying the generality principle to politics. Several important policy implications emerge. There are no direct implications to suggest how much governments should do. The argument suggests strongly however, that, whatever is done politically, must be done generally rather than discriminatorily.
Author(s): James M. Buchanan; Roger D. Congleton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: 190
City: Cambridge
Contents (vii)
List of figures and tables page (ix)
Preface (xi)
Acknowledgements (xv)
I. Introduction (1)
1. Generality, law, and politics (3)
II. Analysis (13)
2. Majoritarian democracy (15)
3. Eliminating the off-diagonals (27)
4. Extending the argument (42)
5. Generality and the political agenda (50)
III. Application (59)
6. Generality and externality (61)
7. Market restriction and the generality norm (76)
8. The political efficiency of general taxation (85)
9. Deficit financing and intertemporal discrimination (97)
10. Generality and the supply of public services (104)
11. Generality and redistribution (117)
12. Generality without uniformity: Social insurance (129)
13. Generality without uniformity: Federalism (137)
IV. Prospect (145)
14. The political shape of constitutional order (147)
Endnotes (155)
References (161)
Index (165)
