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Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Obituaries
I am saddened to report that the great Gordon Tullock, professor emeritus at GMU econ and law, has died. While I often disagreed with him, everything he wrote is worth reading. Start with this excellent compendium. Unlike many “interdisciplinary” economists, Tullock was a genuine polymath; his knowledge of history was especially impressive.
Personally, Tullock often outraged and offended others, but I found his deadpan iconoclasm most endearing. He may be the most forthright man I ever met. What a guy.
P.S. It’s not too late for the Nobel committee to award its first posthumous Nobel. If anyone deserved it, Gordon did.
READER COMMENTS
John Goodman
Nov 5 2014 at 5:34pm
Totally agree.
RJ Miller
Nov 5 2014 at 7:04pm
This definitely hits home.
After I came across “The Myth of the Rational Voter” and found out what public choice theory actually was, Tullock blew my mind when I saw him in this short clip on the economics of voting:
Voting Schmoting (WGBH) from JoshKurz on Vimeo.
My view on voting today because of his insight? If anything, it’s the world’s largest survey. Nothing more, nothing less.
Tullock may be gone but the realities of his field will reign for as long as argument ad populum trumps economic realism.
[N.B. Videos cannot be embedded in the comment section. Please only give the links or your comment will be held up by the spam filter.–Econlib Ed.]
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