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Individuals and Agreements

In: James Buchanan

Author

Listed:
  • David Reisman

Abstract

The irreducible building-block is the discrete individual. There is no social welfare function and no metric of right and wrong that cannot be reduced to living human beings coming together in a mutual adjustment process to further their own objectives, self-perceived. Good rules are the rules that emerge from good procedures. That is why they are good. As for good outcomes, the normative posture is as kaleidoscopic as it is complaisant: ‘Whatever emerges from individual choices emerges… It is not a question of imposing a kind of global maximization process. I don’t think that that is proper or possible’ (BAM, 143). It is not proper or possible to tell Common Everyman what he thinks is ‘fair’, whether defence is a ‘public’ good or whether the market has ‘failed’. The gold standard is process. All that may legitimately be done is to design good procedures that allow humble Simple to speak his mind.

Suggested Citation

  • David Reisman, 2015. "Individuals and Agreements," Great Thinkers in Economics, in: James Buchanan, chapter 2, pages 12-32, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:gtechp:978-1-137-42718-2_2
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137427182_2
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