The Epistemological Foundations of Public Choice Theory

The new political economy - public choice - has contributed considerably to a long-awaited inter-marriage between political science and economics. The economic approach to the interpretation of the public sector - politics as well as administration - has resulted in a number of interestingly relevant models. At the same time modelling political behaviour on the basis of the economic man perspective gives rise to puzzling difficulties creating much controversy. The article attempts to establish in principle the ethically neutral and scientifically objective nature of the public choice approach. It elaborates on the crucial concept of self-interest in the public choice behaviour assumptions in order to show that the criticism from the public interest adherents may be countered.     

Parties and Voters: What Creates the Ties?

The increasing instability in the electorate and the party system forces us to reconsider the Lipset-Rokkan thesis about the frozen party system. In this approach, cleavages played a major role, but in Western Europe, this role has diminished significantly. The frequent shifts in voter allegiance call for a new understanding of the mechanisms that connect voters and parties. A reinterpretation of the concepts of a "frozen party system" or "cleavages" is not enough. We need a new theory about the strategic interaction between parties and a floating electorate.     

Determinanten politischer Kultur am Beispiel des Schwyzer Stimmverhaltens

The new institutionalist approach is heavily committed to the idea that institutions matter. This article explores this commitment by examining the institutions of corporatism using comparative data in order to relate these to those of Konkordanzdemokratie. A neo-institutionalist perspective may be employed to illustrate how the institutions of Konkordanzdemokratie and macrocorporatism are related, both in terms of their origins as well as their policy outputs and outcomes. This article shows that both the conditions and the configuration of outputs and outcomes of Konkordanzdemokratie and corporatism are different. Therefore, one should clearly distinguish between these two sets of institutions. In a cross-sectional approach the configuration of socio-economic outcomes connected with these institutions are not as impressive as often claimed.     

Public Finance Variations: A New Approach*

Few themes have aroused so much interest and contention as the search for environmental determinants of public policy. One major problem area in this debate concerns the identification of explanatory variables accounting for the cross-country variation in public expenditures. As no agreement has been reached about the basic issues involved, it seems appropriate to formulate a new approach to the problem of accounting for public finance patterns. An argument is presented to the effect that the employment of more rigorous econometric tools may help us draw an outline of the structural pattern behind the public household. The analysis indicates that we must abandon the idea of identifying stable structures that describe the relationships between the public household and the environment.