Most economists treat the re-contracting as timeless and costless. Buchanan is realistic enough to see it as a hurdle. The process takes time. It involves a cost. Writing as an economist, Buchanan concludes that the cost-effective choice will often be to renounce altogether the pursuit of the more satisfying endstate that burns up more resources than it is worth.
Constitutional conservatism cuts down on waste.
Due to the Wicksellian test, however, there is also a utility slippage. Jack and Jill, precisely because re-contracting costs too much, are made subject to rules that were settled on before they were born. Jack and Jill are made subject to an inter-generational compact, to a true Burkean commitment that the consistent Buchananite would find deeply disturbing if it were called the budget deficit. Inertia has a pay-off and the status quo a rate of return. Doing nothing cuts down on cost.