(How) Do Democracies Learn in Economic Crises?
Stefan Okruch, Andrassy University Budapest
Constitutional Economics has only recently acknowledged the importance of political learning (Wegner 2008; 2005). Focusing on processes of political learning (instead of scrutinizing the legitimacy of constitutional rules) adds an evolutionary perspective to Constitutional Political Economy (Okruch 2010; 2003) and enhances the tool box of Positive Constitutional Economics (Voigt 2009). However, considering political learning also give rise to new normative questions, i.e. about legitimacy. The paper analyzes from this (constitutional) economic perspective how European governments reacted to the financial crises by deciding on constitutional debt limits. It argues that this reaction can be analyzed as a process of political learning.