The Virginia School of political economy is a

school of economic thought In the history of economic thought, a school of economic thought is a group of economic thinkers who share or shared a common perspective on the way economies work. While economists do not always fit into particular schools, particularly in modern ...

originating at the Thomas Jefferson Center of the University of Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s. Some of its proponents established the Center for the Study of Public Choice at Virginia Tech in 1969, moving it to

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 origin ...

in 1983. The school focuses primarily on

public choice Public choice, or public choice theory, is "the use of economic tools to deal with traditional problems of political science".Gordon Tullock, The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics,

987 Year 987 ( CMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two membe ...

2008, "public choice," ''The New Palgrave Dictionar ...

theory, constitutional economics, and law and economics.

Development

The Virginia school emerged first at the Thomas Jefferson Center at the University of Virginia established by

James M. Buchanan James McGill Buchanan Jr. (; October 3, 1919 – January 9, 2013) was an American economist known for his work on public choice theory originally outlined in his most famous work co-authored with Gordon Tullock in 1962, ''The Calculus of Consen ...

and

G. Warren Nutter G. Warren Nutter (March 10, 1923 – January 15, 1979) was an American economist, who was known primarily for his work on political economy, industrial concentration, price theory, and Soviet economic history and for cofounding the " Virginia sc ...

in 1957. It was there that Ronald Coase formulated his famous theorem on the problem of social cost (1960) and that Buchanan and

Gordon Tullock Gordon Tullock (; February 13, 1922 – November 3, 2014) was an economist and professor of law and Economics at the George Mason University School of Law. He is best known for his work on public choice theory, the application of economic thinking ...

wrote ''

The Calculus of Consent ''The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy'' is a book published by economists James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock in 1962. It is considered to be one of the classic works from the discipline of public choice in e ...

'' in 1962. The latter would form the basis of the Virginia school of thought, as the seminal text in public choice theory. In 1969, Buchanan, Tullock, and Charles J. Goetz established the Center for the Study of Public Choice at Virginia Tech, which moved with them to

in 1983. Other prominent scholars associated with the school include

Dennis C. Mueller Dennis Cary Mueller (born June 13, 1940) is emeritus professor of economics at the University of Vienna. His academic work focused on the principal–agent problem, corporate governance and political economy. Career He received a PhD in economi ...

, Robert D. Tollison, Andrew B. Whinston, and

Leland B. Yeager Leland Bennett Yeager (; October 4, 1924 – April 23, 2018) was an American economist dealing with monetary policy and international trade. Biography Yeager graduated from Oberlin College in 1948 with an A.B. and was granted an M.A. from Columb ...

Economic approach

The Virginia approach to political economy focuses on comparing private and public sector institutions as imperfect alternatives. The Virginia approach is also favored by some economists of the Chicago and

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

schools. Virginia School economists are often seen as 'fellow travelers' with Austrian economists, as members of both schools of economic thought generally favor free-market outcomes. There are several main lines of research in the Virginia School. James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock were among the earliest economists to apply economic analysis to national constitutions; this is one of the greatest and longest-lasting contributions that ''The Calculus of Consent'' made in the field of

2008, "public choice," ''The New Palgrave Dictionar ...

. Tullock also founded the modern rent seeking literature.

Mancur Olson Mançur Lloyd Olson Jr. (; January 22, 1932 – February 19, 1998) was an American economist and political scientist who taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. His most influential contributions were in institutional economics, and i ...

founded modern research on

collective action Collective action refers to action taken together by a group of people whose goal is to enhance their condition and achieve a common objective. It is a term that has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences including psych ...

and special interest groups. Olson taught at the University of Maryland, not one of the universities of Virginia, but his work deals with ideas that are central to the Virginia school of thought, including the effects of special interest groups. Despite some common ground, the Virginia School is opposed to the Chicago school of political economy on two fundamental points. Chicago believes that politics tends towards efficiency due to the fact that free-riders provoke stiffening resistance in risk takers, because of the exponentially increasing deadweight loss imposed by free-riding. Chicago also believes that, because political markets tend towards efficiency, policy advice by scholars is irrelevant. Charles Rowley is a prominent opponent of these notions: in the Encyclopedia of Public Choice he writes that Chicago's "… interpretation of the political process emanates from a fundamentally flawed application of … microeconomics to the political marketplace … ile the Journal of Political Economy publishes papers that defend the U.S. federal farm program as an efficient mechanism for transferring income to poor farmers, there is justifiable cause to worry whether CPE Chicago political economy">Chicago school of economics">Chicago political economyscholars and their journal editors ever look out from their ivory towers and survey the real world." The

Public Choice Society In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

, a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

organization that facilitates research and discussion of the social sciences, is an outgrowth of the Virginia School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia School Of Political Economy Schools of economic thought Virginia Tech Public choice theory Law and economics 1957 establishments in Virginia