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Robert D. Tollison (1942–October 24, 2016) was an American economist who specialized in public choice theory.


Education

A native of
Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Offic ...
,
South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = G ...
, Tollison attended local
Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was founded in 1854. The campus is a national arboretum and one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the Americ ...
where he earned an A.B. in business administration and economics in 1964. He completed an M.A. in economics at the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
a year later. After completing his master's in
Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 10 ...
, Tollison moved to
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
to begin teaching at
Longwood University Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia. Founded in 1839, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of the hundred oldest institutions of higher education in the United States. Previously a college, Lo ...
, then called "Longwood College." Shortly thereafter he commenced work on his Ph.D. in economics at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...
. He finished his doctoral degree in 1969.


Professional life

Tollison's first academic position as a Ph.D. was at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...
, where he would teach from 1969 until 1973. He then took a job at
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
where he became the economics department head after a little more than a year. He held this position with Texas A&M until 1977 when, after having spent a year as a visiting professor at the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, ...
's law school, Tollison accepted a new post at
Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
as professor in that school's economics department. Tollison left Virginia Tech in 1981 to work in various roles with the Federal Trade Commission until 1983. After leaving the FTC, Tollison returned to academia, eventually teaching at
Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...
,
George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was orig ...
, the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...
,
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...
, and Florida State University. He was on the editorial boards for the ''
Journal of Sports Economics The ''Journal of Sports Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by SAGE Publications in association with the North American Association of Sports Economists covering the economics of sports. It was established by economist Leo "Ha ...
'', ''Constitutional Political Economy'', and ''Public Choice''. He was on the board of advisors for the
Independent Institute The Independent Institute is an American libertarian think tank based in Oakland, California. Founded in 1986 by David J. Theroux, the institute focuses on political, social, economic, legal, environmental, and foreign policy issues. It has more ...
. At the time of his death, he was Professor of Economics and BB&T Senior Fellow at Clemson University in
Clemson, South Carolina Clemson () is a city in Pickens and Anderson counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Clemson is home to Clemson University; in 2015, '' the Princeton Review'' cited the town of Clemson as ranking #1 in the United States for " town-and-g ...
.


Contributions

Tollison's areas of particular interest included the economics of religion, history of economic thought, sports economics, antitrust theory, and tobacco policy. His textbook with Robert Ekelund, ''Economics'', is now in its seventh edition.


Mercantilism

According to a '' Libertarian Forum'' review of Tollison and Ekelund's ''Mercantilism as a Rent Seeking Society'', a study of the political economy of mercantilism,


Economics of sports

Tollison's ''The National Collegiate Athletic Association: A Study in Cartel Behavior'', in addition to a number of journal articles on the economics of sports, led to Tollison's work being frequently cited in the area of sports economics.


Economics of smoking

Robert Tollison came to the attention of the tobacco industry in 1977 when he co-authored an article: "Rational Choice and the Taxation of Sin", in the ''Journal of Public Economics,'' attacking the way governments imposed "their moral code upon consumers of goods that are thought to be undesirable." He was a professor of economics at Virginia Polytechnic at the time, and also the executive director of the Center for Study of Public Choice.


Books


As author

* ''Balanced Budgets, Fiscal Responsibility, and the Constitution'' with
Richard E. Wagner Richard Edward Wagner (born April 28, 1941) is an American economist. He is professor of economics at George Mason University. He works primarily in the fields of public finance and public choice. Wagner received his doctorate in economics from ...
. San Francisco, CA:
Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indus ...
, 1980. * ''Politicians, Legislation, and the Economy: An Inquiry into the Interest Group Theory of Government'' with R. McCormick. Boston, MA: Martinus Nijhoff, 1981. * ''Mercantilism as a Rent Seeking Society'' with Robert Ekelund. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1982. * ''El Analisis Economico De Lo Politico'' with James M. Buchanan and R.E. McCormick. Madrid, Spain: Instituto de Estudios Economicos, 1984. * ''Economics'' with R. Ekelund. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1986. * ''Smoking and the State'' with R. Wagner. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1988. * ''Concentration and Competition: The Economics of the Carbonated Soft Drink Industry'' with D. Kaplan and R. Higgins. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1990. * ''The Economics of Smoking: Getting It Right'' with R. Wagner. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991. * ''The National Collegiate Athletic Association: A Study in Cartel Behavior'' with A. Fleisher and B. Goff. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1992. * ''Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm'' with R. Ekelund, R. Hebert, G. Anderson, and A. Davis. London: Oxford University Press, 1996. * ''Politicized Economies: Monarchy, Monopolies, and Mercantilism'' with R. Ekelund. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 1997.


Articles

*


As editor

* ''Theory of Public Choice: Political Applications of Economics'' with James M. Buchanan. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1972. * ''The Economic Approach to Public Policy: Selected Readings'' with R. Amacher and T. Willett. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1976. * ''What Should Economists Do?'' by James M. Buchanan; compiled and edited with Geoffrey Brennan. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Press, 1979. * ''The Political Economy of Antitrust'' Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1980. * ''Towards a Theory of the Rent Seeking Society'' with James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1980. * ''Theory of Public Choice II'' with James M. Buchanan. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1984. * ''Smoking and Society: Toward a Balanced Assessment'' Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1986. (Japanese translation, 1987) * ''Deficits'' with James M. Buchanan and Charles Rowley. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell, 1987. (Japanese translation, 1990) * ''Economics: Between Predictive Science and Moral Philosophy'' by James M. Buchanan; compiled and edited with V. Vanberg. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1987. * ''Clearing the Air: Perspectives on Environmental Tobacco Smoke'' Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1988. (Spanish translation, 1989) * ''The Political Economy of Rent Seeking'' with C. Rowley and G. Tullock. Boston, MA: Kluwer, 1988. * ''Explorations into Constitutional Economics'' by James M. Buchanan; compiled and edited with V. Vanber. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1989. * ''Predicting Politics: Essays in Empirical Public Choice'' with M. Crain. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1990. * ''Sportometrics'' with B. Goff. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1990. * ''The Next Twenty Five Years of Public Choice'' with C. Rowley and F. Schneider. Boston, MA: Kluwer, 1993. * ''On the Trail of Homo Economicus'' by Gordon Tullock; compiled and edited with G. Brady. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University Press, 1994. * ''The Economic Analysis of Rent Seeking'' with R. Congleton. London, England: Edward Elgar, 1995. (Japanese translation, 2002) * ''The Collected Works of James M. Buchanan'' compiled and edited with G. Brennan and H. Kliemt. (20 volumes) Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1999–2002. * ''Method and Morals in Constitutional Economics: Essays in Honor of James M. Buchanan'' with G. Brennan and H. Kliemt. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 2002. * ''The Economics of Budget Deficits'' with W. Shughart and C. Rowley. (two volumes) London, England: Elgar, 2002.


Notes


External links


Faculty bio
t Clemson University. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tollison, Robert 1942 births 2016 deaths Economists from South Carolina Cornell University faculty Florida State University faculty Longwood University faculty Public choice theory University of Alabama alumni University of Virginia alumni Wofford College alumni 21st-century American economists