Constitutional Transparency
For economics, finance, and business purposes, constitutional transparency largely means predictability. Decisions to change a constitution can result in type I errors—accepting changes that do not improve welfare—or type II errors—rejecting a change that would improve welfare. Virtually all written constitutions can change formally through amendments or implicitly through high court interpretations. Evidence shows the two-stage US amendment process is less likely to make type I and type II errors than Supreme Court interpretations. Elites propose European Union (EU) constitutional changes and much the same elites accept them; the procedure appears two-stage but is close to single-stage. Supreme Court, EU, and UK constitutional changes are essentially single-stage procedures, relying on elites. Of the 24 countries and the European Union discussed here, 11 use a two-stage procedure. A wisdom-of-crowds argument supports multistage processes.