"Public choice, or public choice theory, is 'the use of economic tools to deal with traditional problems of political science'. Its content includes the study of political behavior."
An economic theory that studies how individuals make decisions when faced with collective problems that require cooperation among its members.
Definition and History of Public Choice Theory: An overview of the main concepts and principles of public choice theory, and its evolution in political economy and democratic theory.
Rational Choice Theory: A discussion of the basic principles of rational choice theory, which focuses on the rational actors and their decision-making processes.
Collective Action Theory: An introduction to the theory of collective action, which deals with group decision-making, coordination, and cooperation.
Rent-Seeking Theory: Analysis of rent-seeking, rent extraction, and rent creation, as the central concept in public choice theory when explaining the behavior of interest groups and policymakers.
Public Goods Theory: Exploration of public goods and the challenges of providing them to the public, including the issue of non-excludability and non-rivalry.
Voting Theory: Overview of the theories of voting behaviour, including models of voter rationality and the role of voter information.
Institutions and Governance: Examination of the importance of institutions and governance structures in public choice theory.
Economic Freedom and Development: Analysis of the relationship between economic freedom, economic growth, and public choice theory.
Bureaucracy and Public Administration: Study of the structure and function of bureaucracy and public administration, as well as the role of public officials in the decision-making process.
Public Choice Theory in Practice: Discussing how public choice theory can be applied in real-world examples, including policy-making, environmental protection, public finance, and regulatory analysis.
Rational Choice Theory: The approach that treats human beings as rational, egoistic actors who pursue their self-interests.
Behavioral Public Choice: A human behavioral approach that examines the interaction of individuals, government agencies, and political institutions by analyzing how the behavior of people influences government decisions.
Constitutional Political Economy: An approach that examines the interaction between the political and economic systems in shaping the rules and institutions of society, including the constitution as a restriction on political power.
Positive Political Theory: An analytical approach that studies individual preferences and behavior, political institutions, and collective decision-making.
Rent-Seeking Theory: A theory that examines how individuals and organizations seek to influence political decision-making to gain or maintain economic rent.
Public Finance Theory: The economic analysis of the role of the government in the public sector, including taxation and public expenditure.
Public Choice Political Sociology: An approach that studies the social and cultural factors that shape political behavior and provides insights into the impact of societal norms on government decisions.
Institutional Economics: An approach that examines how institutions shape economic outcomes, including the government's role in creating and enforcing institutions.
Regulatory State Theory: The analysis of administrative rulemaking and enforcement within the context of American governance.
"It is the subset of positive political theory that studies self-interested agents (voters, politicians, bureaucrats) and their interactions."
"...which can be represented in a number of ways – using (for example) standard constrained utility maximization, game theory, or decision theory."
"Economist James M. Buchanan received the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 'for his development of the contractual and constitutional bases for the theory of economic and political decision-making' in this space."
"In popular use, 'public choice' is often used as a shorthand for components of modern public choice theory that focus on how elected officials, bureaucrats and other government agents can be influenced by their own perceived self-interest when making decisions in their official roles."
"Public choice theory is also closely related to social choice theory, a mathematical approach to the aggregation of individual interests, welfare, or votes."
"Public choice analysis has roots in positive analysis ('what is') but is often used for normative purposes ('what ought to be') in order to identify a problem or to suggest improvements to constitutional rules."
"Rather, decisions are made by the combined choices of the individuals."
"The second is the use of markets in the political system, which was argued to be a return to true economics."
"The final is the self-interested nature of all individuals within the political system."
"As Buchanan and Tullock argued, 'the ultimate defense of the economic-individualist behavioral assumption must be empirical...The only final test of a model lies in its ability to assist in understanding real phenomena'."