Editing Public choice (section)

=== Constitutional economics ===
Constitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as extending beyond the definition of "the economic analysis of constitutional law" to explain the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the choices and activities of economic and political agents." This is distinct from explaining the choices of economic and political agents within those rules, a subject of "orthodox" economics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=den Hauwe |first=Ludwig Van |title=Constitutional Economics II |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781845425500.00023 |journal=The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics, Second Edition |year=2005 |doi=10.4337/9781845425500.00023|isbn=9781845425500 }}</ref>

Constitutional economics studies the "compatibility of effective economic decisions with the existing constitutional framework and the limitations or the favorable conditions created by that framework".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lins |first1=Karl V. |last2=Servaes |first2=Henri |last3=Tufano |first3=Peter |date=October 2010 |title=What drives corporate liquidity? An international survey of cash holdings and lines of credit☆ |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2010.04.006 |journal=Journal of Financial Economics |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=160–176 |doi=10.1016/j.jfineco.2010.04.006 |issn=0304-405X}}</ref> It has been characterized as a practical approach to applying the tools of economics to constitutional matters.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Church |first1=Clive |title=3. From the Constitutional Treaty to the Treaty of Lisbon and Beyond |date=2016-01-07 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/hepl/9780198708933.003.0003 |work=European Union Politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=2022-04-29 |last2=Phinnemore |first2=David|doi=10.1093/hepl/9780198708933.003.0003 |doi-broken-date=16 April 2025 |isbn=978-0-19-870893-3 }}</ref> For example, a major concern of every nation is the proper allocation of available economic and financial resources. The legal solution to this problem falls within the scope of constitutional economics.

Constitutional economics takes into account the significant effects of political economic decisions as opposed to limiting analysis to economic relationships as functions of the dynamics of distribution of "marketable" goods and services. "The political economist who seeks to offer normative advice, must, of necessity, concentrate on the process or structure within which political decisions are observed to be made. Existing constitutions, or structures or rules, are the subject of critical scrutiny."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1986 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1986/summary/ |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref>