摘要：Both formal and informal institutions can limit collective action. In the US context, there is a large literature on formaland informal institutions at the state level. The focus of this literature has generally been on whether these institutionsconstrain fiscal policy. Fiscal constraints on government activity are consistent with economic freedom, althougheconomic freedom is a much broader concept. There is also a growing literature on the determinants of economicfreedom. In this paper, we use data from 1983-2013 to quantify the extent to which formal and informal institutionscan help explain the level of economic freedom across states. Our findings indicate that divided government andideology can both constrain fiscal policy.
