L.S.E. Essays on Cost
By James M. Buchanan and George F. Thirlby
When I originally suggested the idea for this book, I had hoped to be able to include a considerably wider range of papers with which to underline James M. Buchanan‘s challenge on p. 35 of his Cost and Choice, where he regrets the demise, and calls for a resurrection, of the L.S.E. opportunity-cost tradition (see p. 6 of this book). However the limitations of finance compelled a stricter selection, and, even so, the emergence of the book would not have been possible without institutional as well as personal support and encouragement. The Center for Study of Public Choice, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has cooperated fully with the L.S.E. Publications Committee throughout the planning and production of the book, which is institutionally a joint product. For this purpose the Center itself was supported by the Earhart Foundation, whose assistance is gratefully acknowledged…. [From the Preface by George F. Thirlby]
First Pub. Date
1934
Publisher
New York: New York University Press
Pub. Date
1981
Comments
First published 1973, for the London School of Economics and Political Science, U.K.: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Collected essays, various authors, 1934-1973. First published as a collection 1973 for the London School of Economics. Includes essays by Ronald H. Coase, Friedrich A. Hayek, Lionel Robbins, and more.
Copyright
The text of this edition is copyright ©1981, The Institute for Humane Studies.
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Buchanan, Introduction, L.S.E. cost theory in retrospect
- Robbins, Remarks on certain aspects
- Hayek, Economics and Knowledge
- Edwards, Rationale of Cost Accounting
- Coase, Business organization and the accountant
- Thirlby, Subjective theory of value and accounting cost
- Thirlby, The Ruler
- Thirlby, The economists description of business behaviour
- Wiseman, Uncertainty, costs, and collectivist economic planning
- Wiseman, The theory of public utility price
- Thirlby, Economists cost rules and equilibrium theory
Preface
When I originally suggested the idea for this book, I had hoped to be able to include a considerably wider range of papers with which to underline James M. Buchanan’s challenge on p. 35 of his
Cost and Choice, where he regrets the demise, and calls for a resurrection, of the L.S.E. opportunity-cost tradition (see p. 6 of this book). However the limitations of finance compelled a stricter selection, and, even so, the emergence of the book would not have been possible without institutional as well as personal support and encouragement. The Center for Study of Public Choice, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has cooperated fully with the L.S.E. Publications Committee throughout the planning and production of the book, which is institutionally a joint product. For this purpose the Center itself was supported by the Earhart Foundation, whose assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
I do not adhere entirely to Buchanan’s Introduction: I am not a grand designer! My own pedestrian idea of the next goal towards which economic theorists should direct their own steps is indicated in an unpublished paper called ‘After Cost and Choice’, namely towards the construction of a multi-entrepreneur firm together with a theory of the account.