Constitutional Economics

Constitutional economics examines how legal, political, and social frameworks (“orders”) enable, limit, and control economic activity. In economics, it thus takes a fundamental, institution- and rule-based perspective that mediates between economic theory, jurisprudence, and economic policy. Historically, it can be traced back primarily to the German tradition of ordoliberalism and the Freiburg School around Walter Eucken and Franz Böhm, who, after the experiences of the interwar period, emphasized a free competitive order as a prerequisite for functioning markets.

Publications on constitutional economics make up a large part of Mohr Siebeck's economics program. These include the collected writings of Walter Eucken, as well as the series Untersuchungen zur Ordnungstheorie und Ordnungspolitik, published by the Walter Eucken Institute in Freiburg. Also influential are the collected writings in German by Friedrich A. von Hayek and numerous individual titles.