The Calculus of Consent, Fifty Years Later: A Personal Tribute to James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock

Abstract

Most contributors to this volume are concerned with how James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock have affected the history of economic thought (and the intellectual lives of readers) through their collaboration on their classic The Calculus of Consent. Richard McKenzie explores their influence through their tireless efforts to review and comment on the written works of their colleagues and graduate students. He provides a deeply personal tribute for their work with their students and colleagues that is largely unknown to the hordes of economists, political scientist, philosophers, and legal scholars who have read their joint and separate works but who have never had the opportunity to interact with them on a one-to-one basis.

Richard McKenzie is the Walter B. Gerken Professor Emeritus of Enterprise and Society in the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. He was a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech from 1969 to 1972.