James M. Buchanan, Jr. (1919–2013) was the Emeritus University Professor of Economics in the Center for the Study of Public Choice at George Mason University; University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics and Philosophy, Virginia Polytechnic and State University; and winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
Professor Buchanan was a founding member of the Boards of Advisors for both the Independent Institute and Independent's quarterly journal, The Independent Review and in 1987 he was the recipient of the Institute's Alexis de Tocqueville Award at The National Dinner to Honor James M. Buchanan.
He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago (1948) and subsequently taught at the University of Tennessee, Florida State University, University of Virginia, UCLA, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where he established the Center for Study of Public Choice. He moved from the Center to George Mason University in 1983.
Holder of four honorary doctoral degrees from Universities worldwide, and Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, Professor Buchanan is author of over thirteen books and hundreds of articles in the areas of public finance, public choice, constitutional economics and economic philosophy. He is best known for such books as Fiscal Theory and Political Economy, Cost and Choice, The Calculus of Consent (with Gordon Tullock), The Limits of Liberty (with Robert Tollison), Democracy in Deficit, The Power to Tax (with Geoffrey Brennan), and The Reason of Rules. The Collected Works of James M. Buchanan are available here.
