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Political Deadlocks and Distributional Information: The Value of the Veil

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  • Congleton, Roger D
  • Sweetser, Wendell

Abstract

Contractarian normative theory relies on the "veil of ignorance" construct to generate the political consensus required for its theories of justice. By eliminating distributional information, the veil is presumed too facilitate consensus building by reducing conflict over the distributional effects of proposed constitutional rules or institutions. This paper explores the extent to which excessive distributional information might also impede the ordinary day-to-day decision making of democratic institutions. The authors' analysis suggests that distributive information makes political deadlocks under majority rule more likely. Statistical evidence suggests that the efficacy of the U.S. Congress has been reduced by the dramatic increase in distributional information made available to it over the past twenty five years. Copyright 1992 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Suggested Citation

  • Congleton, Roger D & Sweetser, Wendell, 1992. "Political Deadlocks and Distributional Information: The Value of the Veil," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:73:y:1992:i:1:p:1-19
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    Cited by:

    1. Jordan Rappaport, 1997. "Extremist Funding, Centrist Voters, and Candidate Divergence," Research in Economics 97-06-059e, Santa Fe Institute.
    2. Congleton, Roger D, 2001. "Rational Ignorance, Rational Voter Expectations, and Public Policy: A Discrete Informational Foundation for Fiscal Illusion," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 107(1-2), pages 35-64, April.
    3. Roger D. Congleton & Youngshin Kim & Alexander Marsella, 2020. "On the stability of U.S. politics: post-sample forecasts and refinements of the Congleton–Shughart models of Social Security and Medicare benefit levels," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 101-132, April.
    4. Luisa Giuriato & Alessandra Cepparulo & Matteo Barberi, 2016. "Fiscal forecasts and political systems: a legislative budgeting perspective," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 1-22, July.

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