Gordon Tullock American economist Date of Birth: 13.02.1922 Country: USA

1. Biography of Gordon Tullock
2. Early Life and Education
3. Collaboration with James M. Buchanan
4. Later Career and Achievements

Biography of Gordon Tullock

Gordon Tullock was an American economist and retired professor of law and economics at the George Mason University School of Law. He is best known for his work on the theory of public choice, which applied economic thinking to political issues. He is considered a key figure in his field and, along with James M. Buchanan, one of the founders of the school of new political economy.

Early Life and Education

Gordon Tullock was born on February 13, 1922, in Rockford, Illinois. He studied at the University of Chicago and obtained his doctoral degree in law in 1947. After serving in the army during World War II, Tullock briefly practiced law before entering the diplomatic service in 1947. He received training in Tianjin, China, and studied Chinese language at Yale and Cornell universities. He held various positions in Hong Kong and Korea before retiring from diplomatic service in 1956.

Collaboration with James M. Buchanan

Although Tullock initially intended to pursue a career as a trader in the Far East, his work on "The Politics of Bureaucracy" led to a collaboration with James M. Buchanan at the University of Virginia. Tullock taught law and economics at the University of South Carolina while working with Buchanan. Their collaboration resulted in the joint book "The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy" in 1962, which quickly became essential in the field of public choice. Tullock later joined Buchanan as a colleague at the University of Virginia, where they continued their research program for four years and founded the journal "Papers in Non-Market Economics," later renamed "Public Choice," in 1966. The journal published articles on the application of economic theory to various non-market phenomena, particularly government and politics.

Later Career and Achievements

Despite the success of the book and journal, disagreements with the administration at the University of Virginia eventually led Tullock to leave. In 1967, he described the phenomenon known today as rent-seeking behavior. In 1968, Tullock joined the Virginia Polytechnical Institute, where he continued his work on public choice theory. He wrote several important articles and books during this time, including "Private Wants, Public Means" (1970), "The Logic of the Law" (1971), "The Social Dilemma" (1974), and "The Vote Motive" (1976).

In 1983, Tullock moved his Center for the Study of Public Choice to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He taught there from 1983 to 1987 and at Arizona State University from 1987 to 1999. Tullock continued to publish extensively, with over 150 articles and 23 books in total. He was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Chicago in 1994 and became an honorary member of the American Economic Association in 1998. Tullock held leadership positions in various economic associations and was elected to the Hall of Fame of the American Political Science Review in 1996. He returned to George Mason University as a professor of law and economics in 1999 and retired in 2008.

Gordon Tullock's contributions to the field of economics led to him being considered a potential candidate for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.