Method and Morals in Constitutional Economics

by Buchanan, James M.; Kliemt, Hartmut; Tollison, Robert D.; Brennan, Geoffrey

• ISBN13: 9783540419709
• ISBN10: 3540419705
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

This book contains a range of essays on topics in the emerging field of 'constitutional political economy'. This field of enquiry is strongly associated with the name of James M. Buchanan whose research program has been the point of departure for this field. The essays are a selection of those written by colleagues and researchers in the field to honor Buchanan on the occasion of his 80th birthday. They cover a wide range of topics but fall primarily into two sets: one set dealing with methodological aspects of the c.p.e. approach; the other dealing with specific applications in a variety of policy areas, ranging from 'economic transformation' to monetary policy regimes to health care. One particular issue in the methodological area relates to the model of motivation used - and more especially, the role of 'morality' in economic and political behavior. The five essays on this topic make up one of the sections of the book, and justify reference to the issue in the volume's title.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Geoffrey Brennan
Hartmut Kliemt
Robert D. Tollison
A Poem	vii
Peter Bernholz
To Jim at Eighty	ix
Allan H. Meltzer
Table of Contents	xi
Part I Buchanan and Public Choice in Historical Perspective
Onwards and Upwards - James Buchanan at 80	3	(20)
Geoffrey Brennan
Buchanan and the Virginia School	23	(16)
Roger D. Congleton
A Young Man of Eighty	39	(5)
Hartmut Kliemt
Buchanan-as-Artist: A Retrospective	44	(9)
William Breit
Part II Methodological Aspects of Buchanan's Work
Science and the Social Order	53	(13)
Hans Albert
A Creative Theorist in His Workshop: James M. Buchanan as a Positive Economist	66	(12)
William F. Shughart
Robert D. Tollison
Buchanan and Shackle on Cost, Choice and Subjective Economics	78	(20)
Stephen C. Littlechild
The Art of the State, State of the Art	98	(5)
Hartmut Kliemt
Buchanan as a Conservative	103	(6)
David Reisman
Buchanan and Wiseman	109	(8)
Alan Hamlin
Notes on Buchanan on Methodological Individualism	117	(16)
Geoffrey Brennan
Part III Constitutional Economics
The Importance of Uncertainty in a Two-Stage Theory of Constitutions	133	(40)
Dennis C. Mueller
The Constitutional Stage Revisited	173	(6)
Antonio S. Pinto Barbosa
Evolution and Learning in Collective Decision Making	179	(17)
Jose Casas-Pardo
Juan D. Montoro-Pons
Miguel Puchades-Navarro
Revisiting ``The Nobel Lie'': An Argument for Constitutional Constraints	196	(17)
Jeff R. Clark
Dwight R. Lee
The Calculus of Dissent: Constitutional Completion and Public Goods	213	(24)
Giuseppe Eusepi
Pareto Optimality and the Rule of Law	237	(16)
Noel B. Reynolds
An Invisible Hand Theorem for Collectivists	253	(14)
Earl A. Thompson
Part IV Public Choice and Public Policy
Does Abstention Matter?	267	(8)
Roger L. Faith
The Transformation of Economic Systems	275	(38)
Rudolf Richter
Will the Europeans Seize Their ``Once-in-History Opportunity''? - Comments on James M. Buchanan's Essay ``Europe's Constitutional Opportunity''	313	(12)
Christian Watrin
The Role of a New International Monetary Institution after the EMU and after the Asian Crises: Some Preliminary Ideas Using Constitutional Economics	325	(26)
Friedrich Schneider
On Conditions Favouring the Introduction and Maintenance of Stable Monetary Regimes and of Free Constitutions	351	(24)
Peter Bernholz
Merit Goods from a Constitutional Perspective	375	(26)
Christian Muller
Manfred Tietzel
James Buchanan as a Health Economist	401	(12)
Mark V. Pauly
Part V The Moral Dimension
Morality and the Political Process	413	(31)
Kenneth Greene
Phillip Nelson
Economic Morality as a Competitive Asset	444	(26)
Herbert Giersch
To Help or Not to Help: The Samaritan's Dilemma Revisited	470	(15)
Dieter Schmidtchen
Constitutional Economics and Ethics - On the Relation Between Self-Interest and Morality	485	(19)
Viktor J. Vanberg
Contingencies, the Limits of Systems, and the Morality of the Market	504	(25)
Peter Koslowski
Part VI Buchanan as Teacher and Colleague
Mr. Buchanan - Some Episodes from the Life of a University of Virginia Graduate Student in the Early 1960s	529	(7)
Charles R. Plott
James McGill Buchanan: A Classic Original Thinker	536	(2)
Charles J. Goetz
Learning from the Master: A Student Evaluation of Professor Buchanan	538	(8)
Randall G. Holcombe
James M. Buchanan Outside the Classroom: A Former Student's Perspective	546	(3)
David N. Laband
Blacksburg, Virginia: Summer, 1977	549	(3)
Robert Sugden
A Birthday Reminiscence	552	(3)
Karen I. Vaughn
First Encounters with James Buchanan's Scholarship: A Personal Reminiscence	555	(4)
Edwin G. West
James Buchanan's Influence: A Personal View	559	(5)
Leland B. Yeager
'Is GMU Big Enough for Buchanan?'	564	(5)
Wade J. Gilley
About the Editors	569