Editorial Commentary - Gordon Tullock: The man and his scholarship

James Buchanan describes Gordon Tullock as a natural economist, where nature is defined as having intrinsic talents that emerge independently of professional training, education and experience (Buchanan, 1987). In Buchanan's judgment, there are very few such natural economists and most of those...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public choice 2005-01, Vol.122 (1-2), p.1-8
Main Author: Rowley, Charles K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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9160
9190
Biographical
Bureaucracy
Economic conditions & forecasts
Economics
Economists
Editorials
Expected utility
Pareto optimum
Personal profiles
Scholarships & fellowships
Tullock, Gordon
United States
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Summary:James Buchanan describes Gordon Tullock as a natural economist, where nature is defined as having intrinsic talents that emerge independently of professional training, education and experience (Buchanan, 1987). In Buchanan's judgment, there are very few such natural economists and most of those who claim competence in economics are not themselves natural. In many respects, Tullock manifests the characteristics outlined by Buchanan (1987) as defining the natural economist. However, Tullock is much more than this. He is a warm-hearted and deeply concerned person with a powerful vision of the nature of the good society and a willingness to explore, from the perspective of rational choice, the reforms necessary to move mankind onto a better path. In this regard, Tullock's philosophy is utilitarian in the modified sense of the Pareto principle, adjusted to allow for individual decision-making behind a veil of uncertainty (Rowley, 2003, 115). This philosophy, first spelled out in The Calculus of Consent (Buchanan and Tullock, 1962) has been deployed systematically by Tullock throughout his later scholarship. Tullock requires no written testament to his half-century of contributions to Virginia political economy. His testament is in his life and in his work.
ISSN:0048-5829
1573-7101
DOI:10.1007/s11127-005-6862-1