THE IMPACT OF THE SCANDINAVIAN CONTROVERSY ABOUT JUST TAXATION ON PUBLIC CHOICE - A LATE HOMAGE TO EINARSON,EINAR

In the constitutional debate that has been encouraged by Public Choice theory, there has been repeated referenses to Knut Wicksell. The purp ose of this article is to place the contribution of Wicksell on just t axation in a historical context. At the same time it is pointed at oth er contributions to the Scandinavian debate, in particular it is intro duced the contribution of the Norwegian economist, Einar Einarson, tha t was written prior to Wicksell's celebrated treatise. Some recent res earch into the historical experience, referred to both by Einarson and Wicksell, of political decision making by consent is also presented. Firstly an overview of the debate is presented, then the contribution of Einarson and Wicksell is compared, and finally the implications of this Scandinavian controversy about just taxation on Public Choice the ory is discussed. It is asked whether some recent interpretations of t he constitutional content of Wicksell and the Scandinavian controversy about just taxation, are correct.