Public choice theory applies the analytical tools of economics, especially rational self-interest, to the study of political behavior: voters, politicians and bureaucrats. Duncan Black is sometimes called the founding father of public choice for work beginning in 1948, but James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock developed the field most comprehensively in their 1962 book The Calculus of Consent, work for which Buchanan received the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The approach is closely associated with the Virginia School of political economy.
Facts
Start YearMarks the publication of Buchanan and Tullock's The Calculus of Consent, the field's foundational synthesis; Duncan Black's 1948 work is sometimes cited as an earlier antecedent. Core TenetGovernment officials, bureaucrats and politicians are modeled as self-interested actors pursuing their own goals, such as re-election, budget or agency growth, rather than as neutral servants of a public interest, which yields testable predictions about regulation, voting rules and bureaucratic behavior. 1 Connections
Associated Figures and Events
Frey is a Fellow of the Public Choice Society (1998), reflecting his standing work in public choice theory alongside his political-economy research.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Wikipedia: Bruno FreyBruno Frey, Academic honours section
Buchanan co-authored The Calculus of Consent (1962) with Gordon Tullock, which first outlined public choice theory in full, and is recognized as the field's co-founder.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Public choice (Wikipedia)Lead section
Associated With
Both schools share the Bloomington/Virginia-adjacent rational-choice institutionalist tradition and analyze collective decision-making through the same methodological individualist lens.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Bloomington school (Wikipedia)Bloomington school, Public Choice and Constitutional Governance section
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Public choice (Wikipedia)
Article text
Public choice, or public choice theory, is a formal theory of political and social science that applies economic methods-namely, rational choice theory, game theory, decision theory, and social choice theory-to study political agents (e.g. officials, bureaucrats, and voters) and their interactions.
Associated Figures and Events: James M. Buchanan, Lead section
Buchanan and Gordon Tullock coauthored The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy (1962), considered one of the landmarks in public choice and constitutional economics.
In Group: Free-Market Schools of the Late Twentieth Century, Lead
Public choice, or public choice theory, is a formal theory of political and social science that applies economic methods-namely, rational choice theory, game theory, decision theory, and social choice theory-to study political agents (e.g. officials, bureaucrats, and voters) and their interactions.
View the SourceBloomington school (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Bloomington School, Bloomington school, Public Choice and Constitutional Governance sectionQuote, Associated With: Bloomington School, Bloomington school, Public Choice and Constitutional Governance section
The Bloomington School is closely aligned with public choice theory.
Wikipedia: Bruno Frey
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated Figures and Events: Bruno Frey, Bruno Frey, Academic honours sectionQuote, Associated Figures and Events: Bruno Frey, Bruno Frey, Academic honours section
Fellow der Public Choice Society
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