The Virginia School's economics of natural equals makes consent critical for policy. Democracy is understood as government by discussion, not majority rule. The claim of efficiency unsupported by consent, as common in orthodox economics, appeals to social hierarchy. Politics becomes an act of...

Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Impact of The Calculus of Consent -- Chapter 2: Institutions and Constitutions: The Economic World of James M. Buchanan -- Chapter 3: On Some Neglected, But Profound, Contributions of Gordon Tullock -- Chapter 4: Buchanan on Freedom -- Chapter 5: Choice vs...

Buchanan's liberal theory of political economy : a valiant but failed effort to square the circle / Richard E. Wagner -- Buchanan on ethics and self-interest in politics : a contradiction or reconciliation? / Roger D. Congleton -- Constitutional hopes and post-constitutional fears : the role of...