James M. Buchanan and Liberal Political Economy

Richard E. Wagner is Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University.

Nobel Laureate James M. Buchanan died in 2013. His former student, colleague, and coauthor Richard Wagner has written this account of Buchanan’s work from the perspective of the modern scholar. Hence the use of the words “rational reconstruction” in the subtitle. Rather than an intellectual biography, Wagner provides a composite of Buchanan’s themes and puts them together for the modern theorist to appreciate and use. There are benefits and costs to such an approach, and Wagner makes the most of the benefits. From public choice to constitutional economics to the quest for a moral order, Wagner outlines what the modern theorist considers to be the strength of Buchanan’s program. Wagner’s approach makes this an excellent study not only of Buchanan, but of political economy generally. A useful contrast as well for the recent study of Buchanan by Nancy MacLean (Democracy in Chains, 2017). For libraries with strong collections in public choice and constitutional political economy, or those which seek good additions in those fields that will enable students and researchers to understand contemporary work. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through faculty.

• 1.Introducing James Buchanan2.The Theory of Public Finance: Buchanan’s Scholarly Sapling 3.Collective Action and Constitutional Political Economy4.Federalism and the Constitution of Collective Action 5.Public Debt, Time, and Democratic Action6.Entitlement, Liberty, and Responsibility7.Ethics, Social Philosophy, and Liberal Political Economy