Constitutional Economics for Public Policy

Building on the momentum of the panels at ICPP3 in Singapore and the subsequent publication Transformative Law and Public Policy (Routledge, 2019), we seek to expand this scholarship by exploring the relevance of constitutional economics in addressing contemporary public policy challenges.

Traditionally, constitutional values have played a critical role in guiding the public interest and maintaining checks and balances on economic policies threatening democratic integrity. Modern critiques suggest that constitutions, often shaped in democracies and constitutions written by the propertied class, may not adequately challenge the forces driving economic inequality. This panel seeks to engage this tension, particularly in contexts marked by political and social inequalities. Many older democracies’ constitutions were written when not all sections of the population were constituents (e.g., the USA) or during times of emergency or dictatorship (e.g., Chile), making equality for all sections of the population a distant consideration. In many Global South nation-states, the constitutive power has been influenced by the legacies of imperialism and social stratification, embedding these post-colonial states into neoliberal economic orders. This entanglement limits the ability of constitutional frameworks to assert democratic control over economic forces, therefore perpetuating inequality.

We are looking for papers that attempt to answer questions in three tracks:

1) What kind of clash or convergence of ideas do we see in economic and legal institutional logic while addressing questions of inequality and diversity in policies?

2) How successfully have constitutional courts tested public interest questions in proposed legislation and policies? We seek in-depth analysis of success/failure stories from country contexts and comparative constitutional cases.

3) Both in the project of constitutional democracy and constitutional economics, the conflicts are between different types of rights. How do actors and institutions prioritise and mediate the conflicts between rights?

Further details on the Panel: Link

The panel(s) will be organised with the mentorship of Sony Pellissery, National Law School of India University, and Sunanda Nair-Bidkar, INET.

IPPA Grants

IPPA has established a significant grant policy to assist scholars in attending the conference. These grants are specifically for participants whose papers have been accepted for the conference and without financial support from their university or institution. Although the number of available grants is limited, IPPA is committed to providing financial assistance to as many participants as possible, regardless of their country of origin.

IPPA is pleased to offer two types of grants based on the applicant’s position:

For PhD students or post-docs, the grant covers both the registration fees and accommodation at a designated hotel for ICPP7.
For other applicants, the grant covers only the registration fees.
Save the date: the grant application period will run from February 19 to March 5, 2025.

Further instructions on the IPPA grant are here.