Historical Figures Codexery

James M. Buchanan

Economist who applied self-interest analysis to political decision-making.

James McGill Buchanan Jr. was an American economist born October 3, 1919 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[1][2] He is best known for developing public choice theory, first outlined in his 1962 book The Calculus of Consent co-authored with Gordon Tullock.[1]

Quick Facts

Birth name
James McGill Buchanan Jr.
Born
3 October 1919
Birthplace
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S.
Died
9 January 2013
Place of death
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.
Parents
James Buchanan (father); Lila (Scott) Buchanan (mother)
Spouse
Anne Bakke (1945)
Institution
  • George Mason University
  • Virginia Tech
  • University of Virginia

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Buchanan grew up on a Tennessee farm that lacked indoor plumbing and electricity, which he described as "genteel poverty"[3] After Navy officer training in New York in 1941, Buchanan attributed his dislike of "Eastern elites" to that experience.[4] Buchanan completed his PhD in 1948 with a dissertation titled "Fiscal Equity in a Federal State"[5][6] He taught at the University of Tennessee, Florida State University, the University of Virginia, UCLA, and Virginia Tech before joining George Mason University in 1983.[6][7][8]

In 1956, Buchanan co-founded the Thomas Jefferson Center for Studies in Political Economy at the University of Virginia.[9][10] He served as president of the Mont Pelerin Society from 1984 to 1986.[11][1] John P. Buchanan, James M. Buchanan's grandfather on his father's side, held the office of governor of Tennessee between 1891 and 1893.[2] In 1945, Buchanan started his graduate education at the University of Chicago; after taking Frank Knight's course, he said he was transformed from a socialist into a fervent supporter of the market order within six weeks.[12][5]

What the cited sources add

The 1995 interview records Buchanan saying that public choice theory is "nothing more than common sense, as opposed to romance"[13] Hershman concluded that Buchanan was "on the wrong side in the momentous shift in the state's power structure" during the school crisis.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Charles W. Baird, "James Buchanan and the Austrians: The Common Ground", Object.cato.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Marquis Who's Who in the World", Reed Elsevier, 2000, p. 304 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Buchanan, "Better than plowing, and other personal essays", University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 184; Schudel, "James Buchanan, GMU economist who won Nobel", Washington Post, January 9, 2013; Buchanan, "Better than plowing, and other personal essays", University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 184; Buchanan, "Better than plowing, and other personal essays", University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 184 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Horn, "Roads to Wisdom: Conversations with Ten Nobel Laureates in Economics", Edward Elgar, 2009, p. 369 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "F.A. Hayek", Mont Pelerin Society (MPS); Buchanan, "Economics from the Outside in: "Better Than Plowing" and Beyond", Texas A&M University Press, 2007; Buchanan, "Better than plowing, and other personal essays", University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 184; "Ideological Profiles of the Economics Laureates", Econ Journal Watch; Wagner, "Frank Knight, James Buchanan, and Classical Political Economy: The Long Shadow of 'Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit'", Social Science Research Network, November 1, 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Vita for Dr. James M. Buchanan" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About", Virginia Tech (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mitchell, "Virginia, Rochester, and Bloomington: Twenty-Five Years of Public Choice and Political Science", Public Choice, 1988, p. 101–19 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Munger, "On the Origins and Goals of Public Choice: Constitutional Conspiracy?", The Independent Institute, June 29, 2017; Nutter, "The strange world of Ivan Ivanov", World Publishing Company, 1969, p. 144 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About the Center", The Center for Study of Public Choice; Tullock, "Virginia Political Economy", Liberty Fund, 2004, p. 450; Munger, "On the Origins and Goals of Public Choice: Constitutional Conspiracy?", The Independent Institute, June 29, 2017; "Working Papers for Internal Discussion Only—General Aims", 1959; Nutter, "The strange world of Ivan Ivanov", World Publishing Company, 1969, p. 144 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Buchanan, "The consequences of Mr. Keynes", Institute of Economic Affairs, 1978a; "Mont Pelerin Society Past Presidents", Mont Pelerin Society; "Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent's Stealth Takeover of America", Institute for New Economic Thinking (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "James M. Buchanan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Buchanan, "Better than plowing, and other personal essays", University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 184 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. "Interview with James Buchanan", Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, 1995. facts only, no text reused. minneapolisfed.org
  14. Hershman, "James M. Buchanan, Segregation, and Virginia's Massive Resistance", November 9, 2020. facts only, no text reused. ineteconomics.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article James M. Buchanan (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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