The impact of the Scandinavian controversy about just taxation on public choice; a late homage to Einar Einarson

In the constitutional debate that has been encouraged by Public Choice theory, there has been repeated referenses to Knut Wicksell. The purpose of this article is to place the contribution of Wicksell on just taxation in a historical context. At the same time it is pointed at other contributions to the Scandinavian debate, in particular it is introduced the contribution of the Norwegian economist, Einar Einarson, that was written prior to Wicksell's celebrated treatise. Some recent research into the historical experience, referred to both by Einarson and Wicksell, of political decision making by consent is also presented. Firstly an overview of the debate is presented, then the contribution of Einarson and Wicksell is compared, and finally the implications of this Scandinavian controversy about just taxation on Public Choice theory is discussed. It is asked whether some recent interpretations of the constitutional content of Wicksell and the Scandinavian controversy about just taxation, are correct.