Arbeitspapier

The Comparative Constitutional Compliance Database

This article introduces a novel database that measures governments' compliance with national constitutions. It combines information on de jure constitutional rules with data on their de facto implementation. The individual compliance indicators can be grouped into four categories that we aggregate into an overall indicator of constitutional compliance: property rights and the rule of law, political rights, civil rights, and basic human rights. The database covers 168 countries over the period 1900 to 2020 and can be used by researchers interested in studying the determinants or the effects of (non)compliance with constitutions. Our investigation of the stylized facts of constitutional compliance does not reveal a long-term trend toward more compliance. Parliamentary democracies are the regimes with the highest level of constitutional compliance, whereas military dictatorships perform the worst. Although compliance is not determined by a constitution's breadth, constitutional design does still matter. Constitutions that allow for the dismissal of the head of state or government for violating the constitution achieve higher compliance levels.

Language: Englisch

Bibliographic citation: Series: ILE Working Paper Series ; No. 57

Classification: Wirtschaft
Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government
Basic Areas of Law: General (Constitutional Law)
Human Rights Law; Gender Law
Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
Comparative Studies of Countries
Other Economic Systems: Political Economy; Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

Subject: constitutional compliance
constitutional economics
constitutional political economy
de jure-de facto gap
executive constraints
governance indicators
measurement of institutions

Event: Geistige Schöpfung

(who): Gutmann, Jerg
Metelska-Szaniawska, Katarzyna
Voigt, Stefan

Event: Veröffentlichung

(who): University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics (ILE)

(where): Hamburg

(when): 2022

Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/249698

Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET

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Object type

Arbeitspapier

Associated

Gutmann, Jerg
Metelska-Szaniawska, Katarzyna
Voigt, Stefan
University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics (ILE)

Time of origin

2022

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Arbeitspapier