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Tullock Challenges: Happiness, Revolutions and Democracy

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  • Bruno S. Frey

Abstract

Gordon Tullock has been one of the most important founders and contributors to Public Choice. Two innovations are typical "Tullock Challenges". The first relates to method: the measurement of subjective well-being, or happiness. The second relates to digital social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or to some extent Google. Both innovations lead to strong incentives by the governments to manipulate the policy consequences. In general "What is important, will be manipulated by the government". To restrain government manipulation one has to turn to Constitutional Economics and increase the possibilities for direct popular participation and federalism, or introduce random mechanisms.

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Paper provided by Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA) in its series CREMA Working Paper Series with number 2011-12.

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Date of creation: Apr 2011
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Handle: RePEc:cra:wpaper:2011-12
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Keywords: Happiness; social networks; constitutional economics; random mechanisms; public choice;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
  • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
  • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
  • P16 - Economic Systems - - Capitalist Systems - - - Political Economy of Capitalism
  • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact

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  1. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina A.V. Fischer, 2005. "Cross-Country Determinants of Life Satisfaction: Exploring Different Determinants across Groups in Society," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2005 2005-19, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
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Cited by:

  1. Tena, Juan de Dios & Pino, Gabriel & Marques, Helena, 2013. "Do happiness indexes truly reveal happiness? : measurin happiness using revealed preferences from migration flows," DES - Working Papers. Statistics and Econometrics. WS ws130908, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Estadística.
  2. Bruno S. Frey & Benno Torgler, 2009. "Politicians: Be Killed or Survive," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 242, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
  3. Libman, Alexander, 2012. "Перераспределительные Конфликты И Факторы Культуры В Новой Политической Экономии
    [Redistributive Conflicts and Culture in the New Political Economy]    ," MPRA Paper 48192, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  4. Jeroen Boelhouwer & Cretien Campen, 2013. "Steering Towards Happiness in The Netherlands," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 59-72, October.
  5. Schlüter, Achim & Vollan, Björn, 2015. "Flowers and an honour box: Evidence on framing effects," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 186-199.
  6. Bruno S. Frey, 2011. "Subjective Well-Being, Politics and Political Economy," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 147(IV), pages 397-415, December.

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