Government Failure (Tullock)
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
Government Failure (Tullock)
| Full title | Government Failure: A Primer in Public Choice |
|---|---|
| Author | Gordon Tullock, Arthur Seldon & Gordon L. Brady |
| Published | 2002 |
| Pages | 193 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | A short primer in public choice theory by three of its practitioners: drop the assumption that officials pursue the public interest, model politicians, bureaucrats and voters as self-interested like market participants, and derive rational ignorance, log-rolling, budget-maximising bureaucracy, rent-seeking and regulatory capture. Tullock’s own contribution is that the waste from rent-seeking can exceed the value of the rent being sought. |
Government Failure (Tullock)
Where I heard about it
- Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List (March 2026), second in Public Choice Theory right after Buchanan’s “Public Choice: Politics without Romance” — the section arguing that the case for government has to survive the same behavioural assumptions used to criticise markets. Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.
About this edition
Published by the Cato Institute as a revision of the Institute of Economic Affairs volume Government, Whose Obedient Servant?.
Connections
- The Logic of Collective Action — Olson’s book, later in the same section of McCord’s list, and the foundation for the group-incentives half of the theory.
- Incentives — the analytical lever the whole field turns on.
- Government — the institution being modelled.
- Regulation — where the capture results bite.
- The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this came from.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.