Gordon Tullock — The Champion of Virginia Public Choice

Last night The Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and the Institute for Humane Studies held a reception in honor of Gordon Tullock at the George Mason Law School. Tullock was presented the Fund’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his career. The MC was Prof. Charles Rowley, one of Gordon’s main disciples—who explained to the audience that he “worships” Gordon Tullock (in an academic sense). Rowley is the editor of the Selected Works of Gordon Tullock, published by Liberty Fund.

I never had Gordon Tullock as a professor, which is a shame because I was never exposed to his acid remarks and insults on a weekly basis. However, he did make fun of something I said once in a presentation and this was a great moment for me. As Don Boudreaux explained in his comments during the reception, it is a privilege to be insulted by Tullock…

Of course, Tullock is not (only) known for his demeanor, but for the way he has revolutionized political economy in the last 50 years. Along with James Buchanan, he is the greatest economist in the Virginia tradition of political economy. He is a giant who will be remembered the way Alfred Marshall is remembered today. His genius can be seen in his unusual academic path. He received very limited formal training in economics when he was at the University of Chicago pursuing a law degree. As Rowley often explains, Gordon Tullock is a natural economist—he breathes and thinks economics, and his gut feelings are all about the logic of the discipline. Tullock has made seminal contributions in many different areas: constitutional political economy, voting, rent-seeking, bureaucracy, and even bioeconomics.

To everyone’s surprise, Charles Rowley raised the issue of the Nobel Prize last night. Tullock was good sport about it and explained that if he didn’t receive the Prize in 1986 (along with James Buchanan), it was because of a remark he made that there were more good economists in the state of Virginia than in all of Scandinavia. Tullock thinks the Nobel committee didn’t appreciate his comment much…

Tullock told us in his speech that the economist’s goal should be to change the world, something he has pursued all his life. (In order to help us do this, Tullock graciously gave the prize money he received last night for the establishment of a Duncan Black chair of political economy at GMU.) Anyone who wants to change the world must understand the difference between the “invisible hand” of the market and the “visible boot” of government, and thus should become familiar with Tullock’s work. I wish Gordon Tullock many more years of fruitful scholarship.

Comments

[Rich]

Frederic, care to share what Tullock said about your presentation?