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An Overview of the Contractarian Public Finance of James Buchanan

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  • Roger D. Congleton

Abstract

Although it is only in the last ten or fifteen years that James Buchanan has emphasized a contractarian approach to public policy analysis, most of his nearly 40 years of work in the area of public finance exhibits contractarian themes. This paper outlines Professor Buchanan's contractarian approach to policy analysis, and applies it to various topics in public finance in order to demonstrate the underlying unity of his work. Many of Buchanan's most original contributions to public finance can be best understood as a consequence of his contractarian perspective.

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  • Roger D. Congleton, 1988. "An Overview of the Contractarian Public Finance of James Buchanan," Public Finance Review, , vol. 16(2), pages 131-157, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:16:y:1988:i:2:p:131-157
    DOI: 10.1177/109114218801600201
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bernd Hansjürgens, 2000. "The Influence of Knut Wicksell on Richard Musgrave and James Buchanan," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 95-116, April.
    2. Roger Congleton, 2012. "The constitutional political economy of Gordon Tullock," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 131-146, July.
    3. Roger Congleton, 2014. "The contractarian constitutional political economy of James Buchanan," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 39-67, March.
    4. Roger Congleton, 2004. "The Political Economy of Gordon Tullock," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 213-238, October.

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