Unanimity Versus Non‐Discrimination (As Criteria For Constitutional Validity)

The doctrinal evolution which led, early this century, to the gradual substitution of the term ‘economics’ for ‘political economy’ can by no means be thought of as a wholly beneficial specialisation. Indeed, among the problems which arise in the study of issues in which economic science and political science overlap are some of the most difficult as well as the most vital in the era which appears to be emerging. During the last decade, several works of importance have been published devoted to analysis of these issues. They are all broadly concerned with alternative yet complementary ways in which man's objectives may be sought, namely, via centralised, governmental decision‐making (whether democratically controlled or undemocratic) and via democratic consumers' sovereignty (i.e., via‘free’ markets). These studies have, in other words, concentrated attention upon two distinct and very different methods of exercising social discipline upon those who determine resource use — through governments (possibly disciplined by the ballot box) or through business entrepreneurs (disciplined by the loss‐avoidance, profit‐seeking sanctions).