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Politics, News & Issues > Political & Economic Theory The economics and perspective of public choice theory

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A range of philosophers, from John Locke to Thomas Hobbes, have written about the relationship between government and individuals. But there was almost no empirical analysis of the incentives facing the political class, until economists James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock wrote their seminal work, "The Calculus of Consent". Today their book forms the foundation of something called public choice theory.

What is public choice theory? It's a branch of economics that attempts to see the world from the perspective of politicians, bureaucrats, pressure groups and voters. Essentially, it's a dis...

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