Method and Morals in Constitutional Economics

This Festschrift was "presented" in electronic form to Buchanan on the occasion of his eightieth birthday on October 3, 1999, after dinner in Fairfax, Virginia. As one might have expected, the response to our call for papers was vo­ luminous. In looking over the many contributions, we felt that a "published" Festschrift was also possible and fitting for the eightieth birthday of so prodi­ gious and influential a scholar as Professor Buchanan. To that end we have assembled the following volume. In selecting the papers to be included here we have basically tried to choose those papers which in some way bear on Buchanan's contributions. Perfectly good papers about issues not related to Buchanan's research agenda or not referring directly to Buchanan's work were not included. Space constraints did not allow universal coverage, so choices had to be made. It should be stated clearly that these were our choices based on the criterion that the contribution be relevant to Buchanan's work. Buchanan had nothing whatsoever to do with the selection of papers for this volume. Once choices had been made, we arranged the papers by subject matter ranging from various aspects of Buchanan's work in economics, political science, philosophy, and related areas, to some more personal recollections of Jim as a professor, friend, and colleague. Including the latter material was also our decision, and this probably represents a choice with which Jim would not have agreed. We think, however, that the reader will find these pieces interesting and informative.

Contenu

I Buchanan and Public Choice in Historical Perspective.- 1. Onwards and Upwards - James Buchanan at 80.- 2. Buchanan and the Virginia School.- 3. A Young Man of Eighty.- 4. Buchanan-as-Artist: A Retrospective.- II Methodological Aspects of Buchanan's Work.- 5. Science and the Social Order.- 6. A Creative Theorist in His Workshop: James M. Buchanan as a Positive Economist.- 7. Buchanan and Shackle on Cost, Choice and Subjective Economics.- 8. The Art of the State, State of the Art.- 9. Buchanan as a Conservative.- 10. Buchanan and Wiseman.- 11. Notes on Buchanan on Methodological Individualism.- III Constitutional Economics.- 12. The Importance of Uncertainty in a Two-Stage Theory of Constitutions.- 13. The Constitutional Stage Revisited.- 14. Evolution and Learning in Collective Decision Making.- 15. Revisiting "The Nobel Lie": An Argument for Constitutional Constraints.- 16. The Calculus of Dissent: Constitutional Completion and Public Goods.- 17. Pareto Optimality and the Rule of Law.- 18. An Invisible Hand Theorem for Collectivists.- IV Public Choice and Public Policy.- 19. Does Abstention Matter?.- 20. The Transformation of Economic Systems.- 21. Will the Europeans Seize Their "Once-in-History Opportunity"? - Comments on James M. Buchanan's Essay "Europe's Constitutional Opportunity".- 22. The Role of a New International Monetary Institution after the EMU and after the Asian Crises: Some Preliminary Ideas Using Constitutional Economics.- 23. On Conditions Favouring the Introduction and Maintenance of Stable Monetary Regimes and of Free Constitutions.- 24. Merit Goods from a Constitutional Perspective.- 25. James Buchanan as a Health Economist.- V The Moral Dimension.- 26. Morality and the Political Process.- 27. Economic Morality as a Competitive Asset.- 28. To Help or Not to Help: The Samaritan's Dilemma Revisited.- 29. Constitutional Economics and Ethics - On the Relation Between Self-Interest and Morality.- 30. Contingencies, the Limits of Systems, and the Morality of the Market.- VI Buchanan as Teacher and Colleague.- 31. Mr. Buchanan - Some Episodes from the Life of a University of Virginia Graduate Student in the Early 1960s.- 32. James McGill Buchanan: A Classic Original Thinker.- 33. Learning from the Master: A Student Evaluation of Professor Buchanan.- 34. James M. Buchanan Outside the Classroom: A Former Student's Perspective.- 35. Blacksburg, Virginia: Summer, 1977.- 36. A Birthday Reminiscence.- 37. First Encounters with James Buchanan's Scholarship: A Personal Reminiscence.- 38. James Buchanan's Influence: A Personal View.- 39. 'Is GMU Big Enough for Buchanan?'.- About the Editors.