From subjectivism to constitutionalism: the intellectual journey of James M. Buchanan through his Italian heroes

Giuseppe Eusepi

Public Choice, 2020, vol. 183, issue 3, No 4, 273-285

Abstract: Abstract Based primarily on personal conversations with James M. Buchanan, this paper outlines three fundamental aspects of the Italian tradition found in Buchanan’s scholarship. The first is the particular emphasis on the role of the state. The second is the analysis of subjective cost. The third is the application of subjective cost to democratic public finance. This paper will focus on the latter two aspects, concentrating on two pioneering works on which Buchanan grounded two of his most important books written during the first part of his long career. The first is Public Principles of Public Debt, which profoundly was influenced by de Viti de Marco, the second is Cost and Choice, wherein along with de Viti de Marco, we find themes echoing Francesco Ferrara.

Keywords: James Buchanan; Francesco Ferrara; Antonio de Viti de Marco; Subjectivist economics; Cost theory; Public debt (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B31 D86 H30 H61 H62 H63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-020-00806-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:183:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-020-00806-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ce/journal/11127/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11127-020-00806-5

Access Statistics for this article

Public Choice is currently edited by WIlliam F. Shughart II

More articles in Public Choice from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().