I had met him at a conference on "Public Choice Theory" in the early 90s. I was impressed by his clear and sharp mind and his humor. In the 80s he wrote together with James Buchanan the influential book " The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy". This work got Buchanan the Nobel Prize but the Nobel committee ignored Tullock. Maybe he was to provocative for them.
Tullock "was one of the most creative thinkers of his time" commented Tyler Cowen, Prof. at George Mason University and owner of the influential blog Marginal Revolution (marginal). He added "his contributions include not just the seminal chapters of Calculus of Consent, but a wide range of ideas ranging from law and economics to monetary theory to the economics of insect societies" (tullock).
Gains & Costs
I remember the textbook "The Best of the New World of Economics" (amazon) which Tullock wrote together with his colleague Richard McKenzie. The text offers clear insights into economical thinking. It also explores issues which are usually not in the realm of traditional economics.
There is a chapter on “Sexual behavior” which has a "A model of sexual behavior". Sex, as with any action, is worth committing to as long as its causes gains that are higher than its costs (maximizing of utility), say the authors. "For every act there is a cost, and it is this cost that will determine whether or not (or how much) something will be done", they write. Well said.
Tullock touched a lot of other issues including slavery (here is a link to an elaborate text unz.org). Ilya Somin, another colleague at George Mason University, mentioned his "pathbreaking contributions to the study of voting, interest group lobbying, jury trials, and many other issues" (washingtonpost).
I finish this post with a quote which seems accurate to me : "He will be missed, but his insights will be undying" (reason).
R.I.P. Prof Tullock.
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