IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revaec/v27y2014i1p23-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A subjectivist’s solution to the limits of public choice

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony Evans

Abstract

In light of Wittman ( 1995 ) and Caplan ( 2007 ) this paper contends that the rational-choice approach to political science (“Public Choice theory”) has reached a dead end. By critiquing their treatment of rationality, knowledge assumptions, and views of the democratic process, an alternative is presented based on the core insight of the “Epistemic Primacy Thesis”. This subjectivist approach to political economy is introduced in light of an existing debate between the compatibility (or otherwise) of Austrian economics and Public Choice theory. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony Evans, 2014. "A subjectivist’s solution to the limits of public choice," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 23-44, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:27:y:2014:i:1:p:23-44
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-013-0227-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11138-013-0227-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11138-013-0227-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sutter, Daniel, 2002. "The Democratic Efficiency Debate and Definitions of Political Equilibrium," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 15(2-3), pages 199-209, June.
    2. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2004. "Constitutions and Economic Policy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 75-98, Winter.
    3. Richard E. Wagner, 2003. "Public Choice and the Diffusion of Classic Italian Public Finance," Il Pensiero Economico Italiano, Fabrizio Serra Editore, Pisa - Roma, vol. 11(1), pages 271-282.
    4. Pasour, E C, Jr, 1992. "Economists and Public Policy: Chicago Political Economy versus Conventional Views," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 74(2), pages 153-167, September.
    5. Charles P. Kindleberger & Robert Z. Aliber, 2005. "Manias, Panics and Crashes," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, edition 0, number 978-0-230-62804-5, December.
    6. James Buchanan, 1993. "How can constitutions be designed so that politicians who seek to serve “public interest” can survive and prosper?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-6, December.
    7. Bryan Caplan & Edward Stringham, 2005. "Mises, bastiat, public opinion, and public choice," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 79-105.
    8. Roger Congleton, 1986. "Rent-seeking aspects of political advertising," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 249-263, January.
    9. Donald Wittman, 2005. "Second Reply to Caplan: The Power and the Glory of the Median Voter," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 2(2), pages 186-195, August.
    10. Peter J. Boettke (ed.), 1994. "The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 53.
    11. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65, pages 135-135.
    12. Dani Rodrik, 1996. "Understanding Economic Policy Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 9-41, March.
    13. Bryan Caplan, 2002. "Systematically Biased Beliefs About Economics: Robust Evidence of Judgemental Anomalies from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(479), pages 433-458, April.
    14. Mueller,Dennis C., 2003. "Public Choice III," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521894753.
    15. Bryan Caplan, 2005. "Rejoinder to Wittman: True Myths," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 2(2), pages 165-185, August.
    16. Donald Wittman, 2005. "Reply to Caplan: On the Methodology of Testing for Voter Irrationality," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 2(1), pages 22-31, April.
    17. Wittman, Donald, 1989. "Why Democracies Produce Efficient Results," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(6), pages 1395-1424, December.
    18. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 416-416.
    19. Ikeda, Sanford, 2003. "How Compatible Are Public Choice and Austrian Political Economy?," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 16(1), pages 63-75, March.
    20. Robert Tollison, 1989. "Chicago Political Economy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 293-297, December.
    21. Holcombe, Randall G, 2002. "Political Entrepreneurship and the Democratic Allocation of Economic Resources," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 15(2-3), pages 143-159, June.
    22. Caplan, Bryan, 2003. "The idea trap: the political economy of growth divergence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 183-203, June.
    23. Buchanan, James M & Vanberg, Viktor J, 2002. "Constitutional Implications of Radical Subjectivism," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 15(2-3), pages 121-129, June.
    24. Peter Boettke & Christopher Coyne & Peter Leeson, 2007. "Saving government failure theory from itself: recasting political economy from an Austrian perspective," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 127-143, June.
    25. Vaughn,Karen I., 1994. "Austrian Economics in America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521445528.
    26. Weingast, Barry R, 1995. "The Economic Role of Political Institutions: Market-Preserving Federalism and Economic Development," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, April.
    27. Peter J. Boettke, 1995. "Hayek's The Road to Serfdom Revisited: Government Failure in the Argument against Socialism," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 7-26, Winter.
    28. Lopez, Edward J, 2002. "The Legislator as Political Entrepreneur: Investment in Political Capital," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 15(2-3), pages 211-228, June.
    29. James M. Buchanan, 1954. "Individual Choice in Voting and the Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62, pages 334-334.
    30. Boettke, Peter J & Lopez, Edward J, 2002. "Austrian Economics and Public Choice," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 15(2-3), pages 111-119, June.
    31. MacKenzie, D.W., 2008. "The use of knowledge about society," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(3-4), pages 678-688, September.
    32. Anthony Evans, 2009. "Constitutional moments in Eastern Europe and subjectivist political economy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 118-138, June.
    33. Richard E. Wagner, 2004. "Public Choice as an Academic Enterprise," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 55-74, January.
    34. Stefan Sinn, 1992. "The taming of Leviathan: Competition among governments," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 177-196, March.
    35. Jack Wiseman, 1990. "Principles of political economy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 101-124, December.
    36. Bryan Caplan, 2005. "From Friedman to Wittman: The Transformation of Chicago Political Economy," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 2(1), pages 1-21, April.
    37. Caplan, Bryan, 2001. "Rational Irrationality and the Microfoundations of Political Failure," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 107(3-4), pages 311-331, June.
    38. Michael Wohlgemuth, 1995. "Economic and political competition in neoclassical and evolutionary perspective," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 71-96, December.
    39. Gary S. Becker, 1983. "A Theory of Competition Among Pressure Groups for Political Influence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(3), pages 371-400.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vlad Tarko, 2020. "Understanding post-communist transitions: the relevance of Austrian economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 163-186, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Diana Thomas & Michael Thomas, 2014. "Entrepreneurship: Catallactic and constitutional perspectives," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 11-22, March.
    2. Michael Wohlgemuth, 1995. "Economic and political competition in neoclassical and evolutionary perspective," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 71-96, December.
    3. Anthony Evans, 2009. "Constitutional moments in Eastern Europe and subjectivist political economy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 118-138, June.
    4. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    5. Jennings, Colin, 2011. "The good, the bad and the populist: A model of political agency with emotional voters," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 611-624.
    6. Richard E. Wagner, 2012. "Deficits, Debt, and Democracy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14477.
    7. Dalibor Roháč, 2009. "Je predpoklad voličskej racionality len mýtus? [Is the assumption of voters' rationality just a myth?]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2009(2), pages 163-176.
    8. Bryan Caplan, 2003. "The Logic of Collective Belief," Rationality and Society, , vol. 15(2), pages 218-242, May.
    9. Ester Silva & José Silva Costa, 2006. "Are voters rationally ignorant? An empirical study of Portuguese local elections," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 5(1), pages 31-44, May.
    10. Vlad Tarko, 2015. "The role of ideas in political economy," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 17-39, March.
    11. Glenn Furton & Adam Martin, 2019. "Beyond market failure and government failure," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 197-216, January.
    12. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2014. "Behavioral public choice: A survey," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 14/03, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    13. Bryan Caplan & Edward Stringham, 2005. "Mises, bastiat, public opinion, and public choice," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 79-105.
    14. Claudio Balestri, 2014. "Political Organizations, Interest Groups and Citizens Engagement: An Integrated Model of Democracy," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 533-543, December.
    15. Benoît Le Maux, 2009. "Governmental behavior in representative democracy: a synthesis of the theoretical literature," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 447-465, December.
    16. Arye L. Hillman & Heinrich W. Ursprung, 2016. "Where are the rent seekers?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 124-141, June.
    17. Kym Anderson & Gordon Rausser & Johan Swinnen, 2013. "Political Economy of Public Policies: Insights from Distortions to Agricultural and Food Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(2), pages 423-477, June.
    18. Brian C. Albrecht & Joshua R. Hendrickson & Alexander William Salter, 2022. "Evolution, uncertainty, and the asymptotic efficiency of policy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 169-188, July.
    19. Bryan Caplan, 2005. "Rejoinder to Wittman: True Myths," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 2(2), pages 165-185, August.
    20. Trent J. MacDonald, 2019. "The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18871.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Government failure; Public choice; Rational choice; Subjectivism; B52; B53; D83; H11;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • B53 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Austrian
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:27:y:2014:i:1:p:23-44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.