Towards an Economics of Natural Equals : A Documentary History of the Early Virginia School

The Virginia School's economics of natural equals makes consent critical for policy. Democracy is understood as government by discussion, not majority rule. The claim of efficiency unsupported by consent, as common in orthodox economics, appeals to social hierarchy. Politics becomes an act of exchange among equals where the economist is only entitled to offer advice to citizens, not to dictators. The foundation of natural equality and consent explains the common themes of James Buchanan and John Rawls as well as Ronald Coase and the Fabian socialists. What orthodox economics treats as efficient racial discrimination violates the fair chance entitlement to which people consent in a market economy. The importance of replication stressed by Gordon Tullock, developing themes from Karl Popper, is another expression of natural equality since the foresight of replication induces care into research. The publication of previously unpublished correspondence and documentation allows the reader to judge recent controversy. "1.1 Introduction Taken separately, the contributions of the best-known principals of the early Virginia School of Political Economy - James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, and Ronald Coase - are monuments of twentieth century economics. Yet despite their longstanding collaborations, significant differences characterize the research programs of Buchanan, Tullock, and Coase. Other prominent members of the early Virginia School, especially Rutledge Vining and Warren Nutter, add even more variation to the so-called School, so much so that one wonders if they are properly characterized as a "School." The first question for a work on the Virginia School, then, is what beyond geographical proximity unites the works of Virginia political economists? Second, supposing a satisfactory answer to this question, how does the Virginia School relate to orthodox economics? As this study unfolds, it will become clear that, notwithstanding significant differences of approach and research questions, unifying threads run through the works of the Virginia School economists. These features separate the Virginia School from mainstream economics and from the Chicago School with which it is often identified. We begin by specifying the orthodoxy in order to sketch how Buchanan and his colleagues departed from it"-- Provided by publisher The Virginia School's economics of natural equals makes consent critical for policy. The claim of efficiency unsupported by consent, as is common in orthodox economics, is an implicit appeal to a social hierarchy. The publication of previously unpublished correspondence and documentation allows the reader to judge recent controversy. Explores How The Virginia School Developed An Economics For Natural Equals In Which Consent Is Critical For Policy.