James M. Buchanan and Liberal Political Economy: A Rational Reconstructionexamines the contemporary meaning and significance of James M. Buchanans body of work. The book uses Buchanans past contributions to explore the present and future relevance of his scholarly contributions and insights. It seeks mainly to explain what insight for their work contemporary scholars might acquire by becoming familiar with some of Buchanans formulations. Buchanan was one of the most creative and prolific scholars of political economy during the post-war period. Not only was his body of work so immense that it could not be contained within 20 volumes ofCollected Works, but also Buchanans scholarship made such strong contact with law, ethics, and political science that he could easily have served as a poster-child for the programs in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics which have been gaining momentum in recent years. Buchanan spoke for a style of economics that made wide and firm contact with the full range of the humane studies. This book emphasizes those features of Buchanans thought that seem relevant for contemporary scholarship within the broadly liberal tradition of political economy.

Richard E. Wagner is Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University.

1.Introducing James Buchanan

2.The Theory of Public Finance: Buchanans Scholarly Sapling

3.Collective Action and Constitutional Political Economy

4.Federalism and the Constitution of Collective Action

5.Public Debt, Time, and Democratic Action

6.Entitlement, Liberty, and Responsibility

7.Ethics, Social Philosophy, and Liberal Political Economy