Public Choice Theory

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the "Public Choice Theory" by James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, which holds that politicians base their actions on self-interest. The paper illustrates how this theory holds true in the Bush Presidency in his personal financial interest in the oil industry. It also demonstrates that corporations have found it more profitable to influence federal trade policy than other government activities.

From the Paper:

"In 1962, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock published a book called The Calculus of Consent, which posited an idea that was later to win them a Nobel Prize in Economics. The idea was that of Public Choice Theory, that holds that politicians base their actions on self-interest, and that actors in the economy will seek a political means to meet their ends if it is less expensive than seeing the political environment as a given context and seeking traditional economic recourse for action. This action the authors refer to as rent seeking."

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