Research Handbook on Public Choice and Public Law

Public choice theory sheds light on many aspects of legislation, regulation, and constitutional law and is critical to a sophisticated understanding of public policy. The editors of this landmark addition to the law and economics literature have organized the Handbook into four main areas of inquiry: foundations, constitutional law and democracy, administrative design and action, and specific statutory schemes. The original contributions, authored by top scholars in the field, provide helpful introductions to important topics in public choice and public law while also exploring the institutional complexity of American democracy.

Beginning with a critical introduction to the core tenets of public choice theory and concluding with comprehensive analyses of drug safety, energy regulation, and environmental law, the Handbook provides differing points of view on the foundations of these and a range of related subjects, including: direct democracy and its financial implications, the functioning of electoral processes, judicial behavior, and the structural differences between presidential and parliamentary systems. The Handbook’s knowledgeable contributors offer a rich, realistic view of how public policy is made that is accessible to a broad range of readers.

Summarizing much of the key literature in a range of major topics and framing that literature for open debates and further research, the Handbook is ideal for students and scholars of law, political science, and economics.