TY - GEN A1 - Feld, Lars P. A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Political Institutions and Income (Re-)Distribution: Evidence from Developed Economies T2 - Public Choice N2 - We discuss the effect of formal political institutions (electoral systems, fiscal decentralization, presidential and parliamentary regimes) on the extent and direction of income (re-)distribution. Empirical evidence is presented for a large sample of 70 economies and a panel of 13 OECD countries between 1981 and 1998. The evidence indicates that presidential regimes are associated with a less equal distribution of disposable incomes, while electoral systems have no significant effects. Fiscal competition is associated with less income redistribution and a less equal distribution of disposable incomes, but also with a more equal primary income distribution. Our evidence also is in line with earlier empirical contributions that find a positive relationship between trade openness and equality in primary and disposable incomes, as well as the overall redistributive effort. KW - Redistribution KW - Formal institutions KW - Fiscal decentralization KW - Presidential and parliamentary regimes KW - Electoral systems Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-013-0116-4 SN - 1573-7101 VL - 159 IS - 3 SP - 435 EP - 455 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Backhaus, Jürgen G. T1 - Path-dependent rule evolution T2 - Encyclopedia of Law and Economics Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_362-1 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schubert, Christian T1 - The pitfalls of Darwinian “progress”: a comment on “Evolvability and progress in evolutionary economics” by Tim Cochrane and James Maclaurin T2 - Journal of Bioeconomics Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-012-9146-0 SN - 1573-6989 VL - 15 IS - 3 SP - 325 EP - 328 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Bjørnskov, Christian A1 - Dreher, Axel A1 - Fischer, Justina A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Gehring, Kai T1 - Inequality and Happiness: When Perceived Social Mobility and Economic Reality Do Not Match T2 - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization N2 - We argue that perceived fairness of the income generation process affects the association between income inequality and subjective well-being, and that there are systematic differences in this regard between countries that are characterized by a high or, respectively, low level of actual fairness. Using a simple model of individual labor market participation under uncertainty, we predict that high levels of perceived fairness cause higher levels of individual welfare, and lower support for income redistribution. Income inequality is predicted to have a more favorable impact on subjective well-being for individuals with high fairness perceptions. This relationship is predicted to be stronger in societies that are characterized by low actual fairness. Using data on subjective well-being and a broad set of fairness measures from a pseudo micro-panel from the WVS over the 1990–2008 period, we find strong support for the negative (positive) association between fairness perceptions and the demand for more equal incomes (subjective well-being). We also find strong empirical support for the predicted differences in individual tolerance for income inequality, and the predicted influence of actual fairness. KW - Happiness KW - Life satisfaction KW - Subjective well-being KW - Inequality KW - Income distribution KW - Redistribution KW - Political ideology KW - Justice KW - Fairness KW - World Values Survey Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2013.03.017 SN - 0167-2681 VL - 91 SP - 75 EP - 92 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Baskaran, Thushyanthan A1 - Feld, Lars P. ED - Büstorf, Guido ED - Cantner, Uwe ED - Hanusch, Horst ED - Huttner, Michael ED - Lorenz, Hans-Walter ED - Rahmeyer, Fritz T1 - Creative Destruction and Fiscal Institutions: A Long-Run Case Study of Three Regions T2 - The Two Sides of Innovation: Creation and Destruction in the Evolution of Capitalist Economies Y1 - 2013 SN - 978-3-319-01495-1 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01496-8 N1 - Nachdruck des gleichnamigen Beitrages aus dem Journal of Evolutionary Economics SP - 187 EP - 207 PB - Springer CY - New York, NY [u.a.] ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Garello, Pierre T1 - Current Issues in Tax Policy in Germany and the Netherlands T2 - Taxation in Europe 2013 : the yearly report on the evolution of European tax systems Y1 - 2013 UR - http://en.irefeurope.org/SITES/en.irefeurope.org/IMG/pdf/taxation-in-europe-yearbook_iref-europe-2013.pdf PB - Institute for Research on Economic and Fiscal Issues CY - Paris ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schubert, Christian T1 - How to evaluate creative destruction: Reconstructing Schumpeter’s approach T2 - Cambridge Journal of Economics Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bes055 SN - 1464-3545 VL - 37 IS - 2 SP - 227 EP - 250 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Pitsoulis, Athanassios A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - On Property Rights and Incentives in Academic Publishing T2 - Research Policy N2 - The peer review system in academic publishing performs two important functions by screening a manuscript for its quality, and by helping to further improve an author's work. However, it often fails to perform these functions in a satisfactory manner. We argue that property rights theory can be fruitfully applied to understand these shortcomings, and to develop reform proposals. The present paper discusses the incentive-problems in journal peer review from an institutional economics perspective, arguing that the incentives of both authors and reviewers to fully exploit a manuscript's potential depend on their property rights. Based on this theory of peer review, we argue that the recent proposal of an “as is” review policy combined with increased accountability of referees can be expected to result in a higher efficiency of peer review. KW - Academic journals KW - Scientific publishing KW - Peer review policy KW - Property rights Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.03.005 SN - 0048-7333 VL - 41 IS - 8 SP - 1440 EP - 1447 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - The Economics of Taxing Net Wealth: A Survey of the Issues T2 - Public Finance and Management N2 - This paper surveys possible motivations for having a net wealth tax. After giving a short overview over the state of wealth taxation in OECD countries, we discuss both popular arguments for such a tax, as well as economic arguments. It is argued that classical normative principles of taxation known from public economics cannot give a sound justification for a net wealth tax. The efficiency-related effects are also discussed and shown to be theoretically ambiguous, while empirical evidence hints at a negative effect on GDP growth. Finally, it is argued that despite of widespread and persistent lobbying for a revitalization of the net wealth tax, this is unlikely to happen due to political economy constraints. KW - net wealth tax KW - wealth KW - inequality KW - redistribution Y1 - 2012 SN - 1523-9721 VL - 12 IS - 4 SP - 368 EP - 400 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Feld, Lars P. A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Baskaran, Thushyanthan T1 - Creative Destruction and Fiscal Institutions: A Long-Run Case Study of Three Regions T2 - Journal of Evolutionary Economics N2 - We analyze the rise and decline of the steel and mining industries in the regions of Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg. Our main focus is on the period of structural decline in these industries after the second world war. Differences in the institutional framework of these regions are exploited to analyze the way in which the broader fiscal constitution sets incentives for governments either to obstruct or to encourage structural change in the private sector. Our main result is that fiscal autonomy of a region subjected to structural change in its private sector is associated with a relatively faster decline of employment in the sectors affected. Contrary to the political lore, fiscal transfers appear not to be used to speed up the destruction of old sectors, but rather to stabilize them. KW - Structural change KW - Fiscal federalism KW - Grants in aid KW - Creative destruction Y1 - 2012 SN - 0936-9937 VL - 22 IS - 3 SP - 563 EP - 583 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Nudges and Norms: On the Political Economy of Soft Paternalism T2 - European Journal of Political Economy N2 - This paper discusses soft (or libertarian) paternalism, as proposed among others by Thaler and Sunstein (2008). It is argued that soft paternalism should not be understood as an efficiency-enhancing, but as a redistributive concept. The relationship between soft paternalism and social norms is discussed in detail. In particular, it is argued that soft paternalism increases the stability of given social norms, which in turn need not be efficient, nor in the material self-interest of a majority of individuals. Soft paternalism is argued to be an essentially conservative concept of policy-making in the sense that it tends to increase the longevity of status quo social norms. KW - Libertarian paternalism KW - Soft paternalism KW - Social norms KW - Informal institutions KW - Behavioral political economics KW - Sour grapes KW - Expressive behavior Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2011.12.001 SN - 0176-2680 VL - 28 IS - 2 SP - 266 EP - 277 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Garello, Pierre T1 - Current Issues in Tax Policy in Germany T2 - Taxation in Europe 2012 : the yearly report on the evolution of European tax systems Y1 - 2012 UR - http://en.irefeurope.org/SITES/en.irefeurope.org/IMG/pdf/taxation_in_europe_2012_-_iref_yearbook.pdf PB - Institute for Research on Economic and Fiscal Issues CY - Paris ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schubert, Christian T1 - Is Novelty always a good thing? Towards an evolutionary welfare economics T2 - Journal of Evolutionary Economics Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-011-0257-x SN - 1432-1386 VL - 22 IS - 3 SP - 585 EP - 619 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schubert, Christian T1 - Pursuing Happiness T2 - Kyklos Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.2012.00537.x SN - 1467-6435 VL - 65 IS - 2 SP - 245 EP - 261 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Feld, Lars P. A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Fiscal Federalism and Macroeconomic Performance: A Survey of Recent Research T2 - Environment and Planning – Government and Policy N2 - In this paper, we offer both a broad survey of the literature on fiscal federalism and long-run economic performance, and a detailed report of some of our own recent studies in this field. We look at the difference between study types (cross-country versus single-country studies), and at the relevance of the broader institutional framework into which fiscal decentralization is embedded. We also look into structural change and intergovernmental transfers as a detailed mechanism through which federalism may have an impact on aggregate economic performance.It turns out that fiscal decentralization has no robust effect on growth, but the evidence hints at a positive effect on overall productivity, conditional on the broader institutional framework. KW - fiscal federalism KW - fiscal decentralization KW - growth KW - economic performance Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1068/c1054r SN - 1472-3425 VL - 29 IS - 2 SP - 224 EP - 243 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Döring, Thomas A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - A Tale of Two Federalisms: Long-Term Institutional Change in the United States and in Germany T2 - Constitutional Political Economy N2 - This paper offers a comparison of government centralization in the United States and in Germany. After briefly laying out the history of federalism in both countries, we identify the instruments of centralization at work. It is argued that an initial constitutional framework of competitive federalism does not prevent the long-term centralization of competencies. Against a background of historical evidence, we discuss the political economics of government centralization. It is argued that formal institutions clearly have an effect on the pathways of government centralization, but not necessarily on the broader trend of centralization. The conclusion is reached that preservation of state and local autonomy may eventually hinge on informal political institutions. KW - Federalism KW - Government Centralization KW - State and Local Autonomy KW - Bryce Law KW - Popitz Law KW - Institutional Evolution KW - Constitutional economics KW - Formal institutions Y1 - 2011 SN - 1043-4062 VL - 22 IS - 1 SP - 83 EP - 102 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Garello, Pierre T1 - Current Issues in Tax Policy in Germany T2 - Taxation in Europe 2011 : the yearly report on the evolution of European tax systems Y1 - 2011 UR - http://s3.amazonaws.com/zanran_storage/www.irefeurope.org/ContentPages/2515413947.pdf PB - Institute for Research on Economic and Fiscal Issues CY - Paris ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Feld, Lars P. A1 - Schaltegger, Christoph A. T1 - The Impact of Referendums on the Centralization of Public Goods Provision: A Political Economy Approach T2 - Economics of Governance N2 - The paper compares decision-making on the centralisation of public goods provision in the presence of regional externalities under representative and direct democratic institutions. A model with two regions, two public goods and regional spillovers is developed in which uncertainty over the true preferences of candidates makes strategic delegation impossible. Instead, it is shown that the existence of rent extraction by delegates alone suffices to make cooperative centralisation more likely through representative democracy. In the non-cooperative case, the more extensive possibilities for institutional design under representative democracy increase the likelihood of centralisation. Direct democracy may thus be interpreted as a federalism-preserving institution. KW - Centralisation KW - Direct democracy KW - Representative democracy KW - Public good provision Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-009-0063-1 SN - 1435-8131 VL - 11 IS - 1 SP - 3 EP - 26 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Alm, James ED - Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge ED - Torgler, Benno T1 - Vertical and Horizontal Reciprocity in a Theory of Taxpayer Compliance T2 - Developing Alternative Frameworks Explaining Tax Compliance N2 - This paper examines the interplay of horizontal and vertical reci- procity in determining the degree of tax compliance. Horizontal reciprocity is of the type that is frequently observed in public goods games, where reciprocally minded taxpayers may respond to non-contributing, strictly sel sh taxpayers by mimicking their sel sh behaviour. Vertical reciprocity is located in the relationship between the taxpayer and her government. Some recent empirical evidence is suggesting that initial cooperation of taxpayers with the scal authorities is not so much the result of positive reciprocity, but rather of a general tendency to obey authorities. Vertical reciprocity is therefore modeled as the propensity of taxpayers to retaliate against an uncooperative government by means of reducing the level of tax compliance. This allows us to identify feedback mechanisms between horizontal and vertical reciprocity. KW - tax compliance KW - tax morale KW - tax evasion KW - reciprocity Y1 - 2010 SN - 978-0-415-57698-7 SN - 0-415-57698-9 SP - 56 EP - 73 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Current Issues in Tax Policy in Germany and the Netherlands T2 - Taxation in Europe 2010 : the yearly report on the evolution of European tax systems Y1 - 2010 PB - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Fiscales CY - Marseille ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Feld, Lars P. A1 - Savioz, Marcel T1 - Gebhard Kirchgässner, 60 Years On T2 - Public Choice Y1 - 2010 SN - 1573-7101 VL - 144 IS - 3-4 SP - 393 EP - 399 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Garello, Pierre T1 - Current Issues in Tax Policy in Germany and the Netherlands T2 - Taxation in Europe 2009 : the yearly report on the evolution of European tax systems Y1 - 2009 PB - Institute for Research on Economic and Fiscal Issues CY - Paris ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Rational Ignorance Is Not Bliss: When Do Lazy Voters Learn from Decentralised Political Experiments? T2 - Journal of Economics and Statistics N2 - A popular argument about economic policy under uncertainty states that decentralisation offers the possibility to learn from local or regional policy experiments. Often, an analogy between market competition as a discovery procedure and political competition is used to corroborate this argument. We argue that political learning processes are not trivial and do not occur frictionlessly: Voters have an inherent tendency to retain a given stock of policy-related knowledge which was costly to accumulate, so that yardstick competition is improbable to function well particularly for complex issues, if representatives' actions are tightly controlled by the electorate. We show that factor mobility does have the potential to endogenously disturb equilibria on regional markets for political theories, and therefore does provide for improved political learning processes compared to unitary systems. But the results we can expect are far from the ideal mechanisms of producing and utilising knowledge often described in the literature. In particular, collective learning may occur in the relatively efficient region, while the status quo may be fortified in the relatively inefficient region. KW - Policy decentralisation KW - fiscal competition KW - model uncertainty KW - collective learning Y1 - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.990268 SN - 0021-4027 VL - 228 IS - 4 SP - 372 EP - 393 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Feld, Lars P. A1 - Schaltegger, Christoph A. A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - On Government Centralisation and Budget Referendums: Evidence from Switzerland T2 - European Economic Review N2 - Several authors have argued that a centralization of fiscal powers in a federation is less likely to occur if citizens have to approve a change in the assignments of responsibilities by a popular referendum. This outcome may be due to the fact that logrolling is more difficult under direct than under representative democracy. It may also be caused by citizens’ fear that a centralization of fiscal authority facilitates the extraction of rents by the government or the legislature. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that centralization is less likely under referendum decision-making in the unique institutional setting of Switzerland. Using a panel of Swiss cantons from 1980 to 1998, the empirical analysis provides evidence that referendums induce less centralization of fiscal activities. KW - Centralization KW - Fiscal federalism KW - Fiscal referendums Y1 - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2007.05.005 SN - 1873-572X VL - 52 IS - 4 SP - 611 EP - 645 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Current Issues in Tax Policy in Germany and the Netherlands T2 - Taxation in Europe 2008 : the yearly report on the evolution of European tax systems Y1 - 2008 PB - Institute for Research on Economic and Fiscal Issues CY - Paris ER - TY - GEN A1 - Witt, Ulrich A1 - Schubert, Christian T1 - Constitutional Interests in the Face of Innovations: How much do we need to know about Risk Preferences? T2 - Constitutional Political Economy Y1 - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-008-9044-6 SN - 1572-9966 VL - 19 IS - 3 SP - 203 EP - 225 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Tax Morale and the Legitimacy of Economic Policy T2 - Homo Oeconomicus N2 - It is proposed that a more accurate prediction of tax evasion activity than in the standard portfolio-choice model can be derived even for risk-neutral individuals if psychological costs are considered. Contrary to earlier models integrating psychological costs they are systematically derived by assuming a relationship between psychological costs, taxpayer satisfaction with public policy and taxes evaded. A formal concept of legitimacy of public policies is introduced and it is shown that legitimacy influences evasion activity. KW - Tax evasion KW - Tax morale KW - economics and psychology KW - political legitimacy Y1 - 2007 SN - 0943-0180 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 21 EP - 45 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Public Entrepreneurship and the Economics of Reform T2 - Journal of Institutional Economics N2 - Public entrepreneurship is commonly understood as the outcome of the activities of a Schumpeterian political innovator. However, empirical research suggests that changes to a more efficient economic policy, even if it is known and technically easy to implement, are usually delayed. This is difficult to reconcile with Schumpeterian notions of public entrepreneurship. In this paper, it is argued that the attempt to transfer a Schumpeterian approach to the public sector is fundamentally flawed. Institutional checks and balances that characterise most modern liberal democracies make the strategy of bold leadership an unlikely choice for an incumbent. If change occurs, it occurs normally as a response to the fact that the status quo has become untenable. From a normative point of view, it is argued that if public entrepreneurship nevertheless occurs, it will often be associated with unwanted consequences. A dismantling of formal institutional checks and balances is therefore not reasonable. KW - public entrepreneurship KW - political innovation KW - reform processes KW - Schumpeterian political economy Y1 - 2007 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137407000641 SN - 1744-1382 VL - 3 IS - 2 SP - 183 EP - 202 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Feld, Lars P. ED - Marciano, Alain ED - Rosselin, Jean-Michel T1 - Political Institutions and Policy Innovations: Theoretical Thoughts and Evidence on Labor Market Regulations T2 - Democracy, Freedom and Coercion: A Law and Economics Approach Y1 - 2007 SN - 978-1-84720-126-3 SP - 192 EP - 220 PB - Elgar CY - Cheltenham ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schubert, Christian A1 - Cordes, Christian T1 - Toward a Naturalistic Foundation of the Social Contract T2 - Constitutional Political Economy Y1 - 2007 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-006-9011-z SN - 1572-9966 VL - 18 IS - 1 SP - 35 EP - 62 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Feld, Lars P. T1 - Still a Director's Law? The Political Economy of Income Redistribution: Research Report im Auftrag des Institut de Recherches Economiques et Fiscales, Université Aix-Marseille Y1 - 2007 PB - Univ. CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schubert, Christian ED - Schubert, Christian ED - Wangenheim, Georg von T1 - A contractarian view on institutional evolution T2 - Evolution and Design of Institutions Y1 - 2006 SN - 978-0-415-37531-3 SP - 149 EP - 179 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Döring, Thomas A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth?: A survey of the literature T2 - Regional Studies N2 - Döring T. and Schnellenbach J. (2006) What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth?: a survey of the literature, Regional Studies 40, 375–395. Modern (endogenous) growth theory tells us that knowledge is crucial for the sustained growth of high-income economies. Against this background, the paper provides a survey of theoretical and empirical findings highlighting the question of how geographically limited knowledge diffusion can help to explain clusters of regions with persistently different levels of growth. It discusses this topic in two steps. First, the theoretical concept of knowledge spillovers is outlined by discussing the different types of knowledge, the spatial dimension of knowledge spillovers, and the geographical mechanisms and structural conditions of knowledge diffusion. Second, it analyses the empirical evidence concerning the theoretical propositions. KW - Knowledge spillovers KW - Regional growth KW - Research and development KW - Innovation KW - Diffusion of innovations Y1 - 2006 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00343400600632739 SN - 0034-3404 VL - 40 IS - 3 SP - 375 EP - 395 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Tax Morale and the Taming of Leviathan T2 - Constitutional Political Economy N2 - An explanation for tax morale based upon a simple model of psychological costs that depend on the perceived legitimacy of public policies is introduced. It is shown that empirically observed low levels of tax evasion can be explained even for a risk-neutral taxpayer with such a model. In a discussion of aggregate tax revenue, it is argued that tax revenue as a function of tax rates may differ fundamentally from the notorious Laffer curve. It is then necessary to look at the interaction of formal and informal institutions to predict the nominal tax rates chosen by a revenue maximizer. KW - Tax evasion KW - Tax morale KW - Cognitive dissonance KW - Informal institutions KW - H26 KW - Z13 Y1 - 2006 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-006-0001-y SN - 1043-4062 VL - 17 IS - 2 SP - 117 EP - 132 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Appeasing Nihilists? Some Economic Thoughts on Reducing Terrorist Activity T2 - Public Choice N2 - Recent contributions to the economics of terrorism have given contradicting recommendations for campaigning against terrorism, from the proposal to deprive terrorists of their resources to the proposal of raising the opportunity costs of terrorism by increasing the wealth of the affected regions. Within a simple framework which differentiates between the decision to become an active terrorist and the decision to support terrorists and which allows for reciprocal reactions to anti-terrorism policies, it is argued here that undifferentiated deterrence may indeed backfire, but so may an increase of the opportunity costs of terrorism. A very targeted anti-terrorism policy aimed only at active terrorists would then be the most reasonable remaining approach. KW - Terrorism KW - Deterrence KW - Reciprocity KW - Anti-terrorism policies Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/25487598 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-006-9029-9 SN - 0048-5829 VL - 129 IS - 3/4 SP - 301 EP - 313 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Schubert, Christian ED - Wangenheim, Georg von T1 - Gradualism and Public Entrepreneurship in the Evolution of Formal Institutions T2 - The Evolution and Design of Institutions Y1 - 2006 SN - 9-78-0-415-37531-3 SP - 123 EP - 143 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - GEN ED - Schubert, Christian ED - Wangenheim, Georg von T1 - Evolution and Design of Institutions Y1 - 2006 SN - 978-0-415-37531-3 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - CHAP ED - Backhaus, Jürgen G. T1 - Hayek and the Evolution of Designed Institutions: A critical assessment T2 - Entrepreneurship, money and coordination : Hayek's theory of cultural evolution Y1 - 2005 SN - 1-84542-130-2 SP - 107 EP - 130 PB - Elgar CY - Cheltenham ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Model Uncertainty and the Rationality of Economic Policy T2 - Journal of Evolutionary Economics N2 - This paper examines the process of economic policy-making under conditions of model uncertainty. A median voter model is introduced in which the electorate is uncertain of the policy measures available as well as their respective outcomes and opinion formation is a social process of communication and contagion. Learning from experience is also considered. It is shown that economic policy-making under uncertainty produces novel policy routines, but that a mechanism of efficiently utilising the generated knowledge is missing. KW - Economic policy KW - Model uncertainty KW - Collective beliefs KW - Collective learning Y1 - 2005 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-004-0231-y SN - 0936-9937 VL - 15 IS - 1 SP - 101 EP - 116 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - The Dahrendorf hypothesis and its implications for (the theory of) economic policy-making T2 - Cambridge Journal of Economics N2 - The sociologist R. Dahrendorf has recently suggested that there is no and there ought to be no convergence of economic policies towards some common ideal model. On the contrary, he states that ‘diversity is […] at the very heart of a world that has abandoned the need for closed, encompassing systems’. It is shown in this paper that the Dahrendorf hypothesis is difficult to reconcile with orthodox economic approaches to economic policy-making. A perspective on policy-making that introduces either fundamental uncertainty or endogenous policy preferences or both is, however, shown to be consistent with the Dahrendorf hypothesis. Y1 - 2005 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bei086 SN - 1464-3545 VL - 29 IS - 6 SP - 997 EP - 1009 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - The Evolution of a Fiscal Constitution When Individuals are Theoretically Uncertain T2 - European Journal of Law and Economics N2 - In contrast to the contractarian approach to constitutional economics, we follow Voigt (1999) in assuming that constitutional rules are closely connected to informal institutions and that their evolution is a matter of interest group activity and implicit re-interpretation. We add to this the assumption of theoretical uncertainty of individuals regarding the working properties of constitutional rules. Collective learning processes are considered as the third driving force of constitutional evolution, and at the same time as the source of path-dependencies which allow suboptimal constitutions to persist. Finally, it is argued that direct legislation offers more protection than a written fiscal constitution. KW - positive constitutional economics KW - collective learning KW - path-dependent rule-evolution Y1 - 2004 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026389926709 SN - 0929-1261 VL - 17 IS - 1 SP - 97 EP - 115 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - New Political Economy, Scientism and Knowledge: A Critique from a Hayekian Perspective, and a Proposal for an Extension of the Research Agenda T2 - The American Journal of Economics and Sociology N2 - New Political Economy has something very important in common with welfare economics: its focus on static, technical efficiency criteria to judge the rationality of a social, political or economic order. This often leads theorists to perceive their objects of research as well-defined problems to which clear-cut solutions can be found and prescribed as policy proposals, addressed at the policymaker or the democratic sovereign. This perspective frequently excludes important empirical phenomena from the research agenda. Although, for example, certain well-defined informational asymmetries are frequently modeled, fundamental knowledge problems such as ignorance of the true model of the economy are usually ignored. In the present paper, this approach is criticized from a Hayekian point of view, with an emphasis on the problems of "scientism" (i.e., the inappropriate transfer of methods from the natural to the social sciences) and irremediably imperfect knowledge, troubling both the agents in the theoretical model and the theorist. Furthermore, it is argued and illustrated with two examples that an extension of Public Choice's research agenda along Hayekian lines may be fruitful, because it leads to a fresh perception even of such problems that already have been extensively researched within the traditional framework. Y1 - 2002 UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/3487744 SN - 0002-9246 SN - 1536-7150 VL - 61 IS - 1 SP - 193 EP - 214 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan ED - Moss, Laurence S. T1 - New Political Economy, Scientism and Knowledge: A Critique from a Hayekian Perspective T2 - The New Political Economies: A Collection of Essays from Around the World Y1 - 2002 SN - 0-631-23497-7 SN - 0-631-23496-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1536-7150.00156 N1 - Reprint aus dem American Journal of Economics and Sociology SP - 193 EP - 214 PB - Blackwell Publishers CY - Malden ER -