We do not say that the Public Choice School has not made any positive
contribution to political economy. It has. The originators of it, James Buchanan and
Gordon Tullock, along with their many followers and collaborators, have done
important work on rational voter theory, setting up a meeting agenda, game theory,
etc. Nor can we object to the application of economic theory to political issues. Far
from it. However, the present book seeks to uncover its many failures. For
example, the fact that underneath the veneer of its supposed adherence to valuefree
positive analysis lies a value-laden support for statism. To wit, its emphasis
and reliance on “theoretical unanimity” not the actual unanimity incorporated in
every commercial act under free enterprise. We also take issue with its nomenclature
“rent seeking” albeit not the concept itself. Why pick on innocuous “rent” to
describe crony capitalism?