Towards an economics of natural equals: a documentary history of the early Virginia school

By:

Levy, David M

Contributor(s):

Peart, Sandra J

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Cambridge University Press New York 2020Description: xvi, 291 pISBN:

9781108428972

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

330.15 LEV

Summary: 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 The publication of previously unpublished correspondence and documentation allows the reader to judge recent controversy.

List(s) this item appears in: Public Policy & General Management

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	Indian Institute of Management LRC General Stacks	Public Policy & General Management	330.15 LEV (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		002586

Table of Contents
1. Why the Virginia School of Political Economy matters
2. James Buchanan and the return to an economics of natural equals
3. 'Almost wholly negative': an early reaction to the Virginia School
4. 'The economics of Universal Education' and after: from Friedman to Rawls
5. Virginia political economy and public choice economics
6. The individuals and their connections
7. The role of the Earhart Foundation in the Early Virginia School
8. The early Virginia School and the anti-democratic right
9. Neoliberalism, the Virginia School, and the Geldard Report
10. Conclusion: should the Virginia School be restored?

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.

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