Discussion paper

DP4808 Bundling and the Unanimity Rule

In this Paper, we design democratic constitutions that can transcend the shortcomings of the unanimity rule. The constitution embeds the unanimity rule in a set of virtue-supporting principles: (a) broad packages with many public projects (bundling) are allowed, but can only be proposed once in a legislative term; (b) the person who designs the package is also taxed at the highest proposed rate; and (c) subsidies are forbidden. We show that such democratic constitutions can yield efficient public project provision.

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Citation

Gersbach, H and U Erlenmaier (2004), ‘DP4808 Bundling and the Unanimity Rule‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4808. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp4808