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Teaching economics, defending the free market and justifying government intervention: The ABCs of Buchanan’s political economy

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  • Alain Marciano

    (MRE and Université de Montpellier, Faculté d’économie)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show that Prices, Income and Public Policy (1954), an introductory textbook in economics written by William Allen, James Buchanan and Marshall Colberg, was actually a treatise in political economy. The book indeed tapped to the political economy of Henry Simons and Frank Knight, and anticipated Virginia Political Economy. This form of political economy has three dimensions that we discuss in this article. First, teaching principle of economics. Second, defending the virtues of a free-market economy. Thirdly, insisting on the importance of government intervention in such a system. Their point Allen, Buchanan and Colberg made was that a free market is flawed, just as government intervention. By contrast with those who were suggesting to invent a new form of capitalism to deal with the evils of capitalism, they claimed that one should try to make this system work by understanding its nature.

Suggested Citation

  • Alain Marciano, 2023. "Teaching economics, defending the free market and justifying government intervention: The ABCs of Buchanan’s political economy," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 441-460, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:36:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11138-021-00550-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-021-00550-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Oskar Lange, 1937. "On the Economic Theory of Socialism: Part Two," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 4(2), pages 123-142.
    2. Alain Marciano, 2020. "How Buchanan’s concern for the South shaped his first academic works," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 247-271, June.
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    4. Boettke, Peter, 2011. "Teaching economics, appreciating spontaneous order, and economics as a public science," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 265-274.
    5. Marciano, Alain, 2020. "The origins of Buchanan's views on federalism, Chicago 1946–1947," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 319-335, June.
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    8. Alain Marciano & Steven G. Medema, 2015. "Market Failure in Context: Introduction," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 47(5), pages 1-19, Supplemen.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    James Buchanan; Price theory; Political economy; Free market; Market failures; Process; Ethics; Government intervention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate
    • B21 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Microeconomics
    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • B53 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Austrian

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