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Introduction

In: The Political Economy of James Buchanan

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  • David Reisman

Abstract

James Buchanan, reflecting on the state of economic science as it was at the time when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in that subject, was capable of branding much of the work of his colleagues and contemporaries as little more than a waste of resources: As it is practiced in the 1980s, economics is a ‘science’ without ultimate purpose or meaning. It has allowed itself to become captive of the technical tools that it employs without keeping track of just what it is that the tools are to be used for. In a very real sense, the economists of the 1980s are illiterate in basic principles of their own discipline … Their motivation is not normative; they seem to be ideological eunuchs. Their interest lies in the purely intellectual properties of the models with which they work, and they seem to get their kicks from the discovery of proofs of propositions relevant only for their own fantasy lands … I do deplore the waste that such investment of human capital reflects.1

Suggested Citation

  • David Reisman, 1990. "Introduction," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Political Economy of James Buchanan, chapter 1, pages 1-6, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-10519-9_1
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-10519-9_1
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