James M. Buchanan - Political economist and founder of "public choice theory"

By:   Date: 5 December 2009

About The Author

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James M. Buchanan is a political economist and the Advisory General Director of America. He has and still continues to make significant contributions to the field of economics. He is mostly known for his ‘Public Choice Theory’ in economics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1986. Professor Buchanan’s seminal work opened new vistas for analyzing the effect of politician’s non-economic forces on government economic policy.

James McGill Buchanan was born in Tennessee in 1919, where he received most of his formal education. Buchanan received his B.A from Middle Tennessee State College, M.S from the University of Tennessee before obtaining his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1948. Buchanan started off his career as part of the faculty at George Mason University and is also an important figure in the Virginia School of Political Economy. He has also taught at the University of Virginia, Florida State University, University of California Los Angeles and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He also established the Thomas Jefferson Center that is currently located at George Mason University.

The most significant work by Buchanan, also considered a landmark in the discipline of economics, is his book “The Calculus of Consent” published in 1962. The theme of the book blends the marries the applications of economics and political science. In particular, Buchanan explores the political organization of a free society, which is based on its economic organization. According to the Buchanan, collective decisions have a strong public influence and how such patterns are formed ought to be studied. He described the constitution of the country as the demarcation between the private and the public sector.

Public choice is therefore separated into two phases, namely pre-constitutional and post-constitutional. His contribution to the discipline does not remain confined to the exploration of the relation between economics and political science but it has extended to the fiscal sphere. Buchanan's work “The Power to Tax: Analytical foundations of a Fiscal Constitution” broke grounds in analyzing the process in which the fiscal decisions are taken by the government, confronting the role of self-interest in political decision-making.

The Public Choice Theory propounded by Buchanan can be approached from two perspectives. They are:

  • The Normative Approach: This approach aspires to trace the principles based on which organized public decisions are taken.
  • The Positivist Branch: The branch that endeavors to develop theories of behavior, which can be predicted.

Major Publications by James M. Buchanan

The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy
Cost and Choice
The Limits of Liberty
Liberty, Market and State
Better Than Plowing and Other Personal Essays (An Autobiography)

 

Books by James M. Buchanan

LSE Essays on Cost

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