We try to prevent the creation of artificial rents. Rather than setting up quotas to stop imports we levy a tariff, that would be better. Or we pay wages in the public sector which are roughly equivalent to the productivity… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
Politicians and bureaucrats are no different from the rest of us. They will maximize their incentives just like everybody else. — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
Politics is a romantic search for the good and the true and the beautiful. — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
People share a universal behavioural trait: if there are profits to be made, the effort to get that money will attract investment. This is… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
If you have an area where high-income receivers concentrate, you have a higher fiscal capacity. That fiscal capacity is a valuable resource and will… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
How would the US be different today if people coming off the boat were greeted with a welfare check instead of a shovel? — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
“The elementary and basic approach that I suggest places “the theory of markets” and not the “theory of resource allocation” at center stage. My… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
It is much more difficult to get implemented politically what might be desirable economically. Even if you came out with an economic argument in… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
You can get a coalition of senators from particular states in America, for example, who want to construct highways or dams or ports which… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
“Despotism may be the only organizational alternative to the political structure that we observe.” — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
Imagine that Queen Elizabeth I, in her time, had the opportunity to give out a monopoly for playing cards within the kingdom. She knew… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
You have to have a government to provide you with legal order, with stability, enforcement of property rights, enforcement of contracts, definition of rules… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
The assumption that we can keep societies open and free to everybody is going to have to stop. We are going to have to… — James M. Buchanan Copy Share Image
