Abstract
Since World War II a large literature has arisen that uses the methodology of economics to examine the behavior of governments and the actors in them. Some scholars refer to their research as public choice, some as social choice, and still others as political economy. This article discusses the distinctions among these three terms. It concludes that all of the research falling under these three headings has much in common, and that people who refer to their work as public choice or political economy are essentially employing identical methodologies. Contributions to public choice, narrowly defined, are more often positive and empirical analyses of government behavior than those in social choice, narrowly defined.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For a review of these models, see Mueller (2003, Chap. 12).
See, for example, “Amartya Sen—Biographical,” http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic–sciences/laureates/1998/sen–bio.html, (Accessed Dec 3 2013) and his presidential address to the American Economic Association Sen (1995).
See, discussion by Professor Akihito Udagawa, who was also greatly influenced by his visit to the Center. http://publicchoice.info/Buchanan/files/udagawa.htm, Accessed Dec 3 2013.
See, http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.journals.simple.html, Accessed Dec 4 2013.
For further discussion and critique, see Blankart and Koester (2006).
References
Acemoglu, D. (2005). Constitutions, politics and economics: A review essay of Persson and Tabellini’s The Economic Effects of Constitutions. Journal of Economic Literature, 43, 1025–1048.
Arrow, K. J. (1963). Social choice individual values 1951. New York: Wiley.
Black, D. (1948a). On the rationale of group decision making. Journal of Political Economy, 56, 23–34.
Black, D. (1948b). The decisions of a committee voting a special majority. Econometrica, 16, 245–261.
Blankart, C. B., & Koester, G. B. (2006). Political economics versus public choice: Two views of political economy in competition. Kyklos, 59, 171–200.
Brennan, G., & Buchanan, J. M. (1985). The reason of rules. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Buchanan, J. M. (1954a). Social choice, democracy, and free markets. Journal of Political Economy, 62, 114–123.
Buchanan, M. J. (1954b). Individual choice in voting and the market. Journal of Political Economy, 62, 334–343.
Buchanan, J. M., & Tullock, G. (1962). The calculus of consent. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Downs, A. (1957). An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper & Row.
Geoffrey, B., & Buchanan, J. M. (1980). The power to tax: Analytical foundations of a fiscal constitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hinich, M. J. (1977). Equilibrium in spatial voting: The median voter result is an artifact. Journal of Economic Theory, 16, 208–219.
Ledyard, J. O. (1984). The pure theory of large two-candidate elections. Public Choice, 44, 7–41.
May, K. O. (1952). A set of independent necessary and sufficient conditions for simple majority decision. Econometrica, 20, 680–684.
Mueller, D. C. (2003). Public choice III. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Olson, M. (1965). The logic of collective action. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Persson, T., Roland, G., & Tabellini, G. (1998). Towards micropolitical foundations of public finance. European Economic Review, 42, 685–694.
Persson, T., & Tabellini, G. (2000). Political economics—explaining economic policy. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Persson, T., & Tabellini, G. (2003). The economic effect of constitutions. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Riker, W. H. (1962). The theory of political coalitions. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Samuelson, P. A. (1954). The pure theory of public expenditure. Review of Economics and Statistics, 36, 387–389.
Sen, A. K. (1995). Rationality and social choice. American Economic Review, 85, 1–24.
Tullock, G. (1959). Some problens of majority voting. Journal of Political Economy, 67, 571–579.
Weingast, B. B., & Wittman, D. A. (2006). The oxford handbook of political economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mueller, D.C. Public choice, social choice, and political economy. Public Choice 163, 379–387 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-015-0244-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-015-0244-0