James M. Buchanan (1919–2013), the Nobel Prize recipient, left a lasting mark on the science of economics and on broader philosophical discussions regarding the institutional foundations and operation of free societies. He is widely regarded as the father of public choice analysis, despite the fact that many other academics also explored “government failure,” as he put it. He wanted his writings to help us in very real terms to revive personal freedom, set effective barriers to potential abuses of political power, and rekindle the forces that make more and more ordinary people lead lives that are “better than plowing.”
This volume pays tribute to James M. Buchanan’s work. It is part of the Companions to Economics series sponsored by Universidad Francisco Marroquín’s School of Economic Sciences, which has already published volumes dedicated to Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, David Hume, Ludwig von Mises, and Douglass North.
