During the past half-century Gordon Tullock continually advanced the frontiers of political economy, most particularly with respect to the workings of representative democracies and of autocracies. This ten-volume series, edited and arranged thematically, brings together Tullock's most significant contributions to economics, political science, public choice, sociology, law and economics, and bioeconomics. Scholars will undoubtedly find the extensive breadth and depth of Tullock's writings enriching. The general reader, as well as the student of politics, and all who love economic liberty, will find Tullock's prose lucid, readable, and sprinkled with wit. His forensic argument is penetrating, compelling, and clear, and his brilliant mind is surprisingly accessible to us all. The Selected Works of Gordon Tullock provides an entr e to the mind of a legend in the field of political economics. Professor Rowley gives a deliberately sparse contextual introduction to each volume, opting to allow the very able and eloquent Tullock to speak for himself. Gordon Tullock (1922-2014) was Professor Emeritus of Law at George Mason University, where he was Distinguished Research Fellow in the Center for Study of Public Choice and University Professor of Law and Economics. He also taught at the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, Rice University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of Arizona. In 1966 he founded the journal that became Public Choice and remained its editor until 1990. Charles K. Rowley (1939-2013) was Duncan Black Professor of Economics, a Senior Fellow of the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy at George Mason University, and the General Director of the Locke Institute.

Gordon Tullock is among a small group of living legends in the field of political economics. This volume provides an entree to the mind of an original thinker. Professor Rowley provides deliberately sparse contextual introduction to each volume, opting to allow the very able and eloquent Tullock to speak for himself.

Gordon Tullock is among a small group of living legends in the field of political economics. This volume provides an entree to the mind of an original thinker. Professor Rowley provides deliberately sparse contextual introduction to each volume, opting to allow the very able and eloquent Tullock to speak for himself.

The Organization of Inquiry, the third volume in Liberty Fund's The Selected Works of Gordon Tullock, was originally published by Duke University Press in 1966. This is a treatise by one of the most stalwart practitioners of the scientific method in political economy--Gordon Tullock. Charles K. Rowley, Duncan Black Professor of Economics at George Mason University, writes in his introduction to this book, "From a purely technical perspective, this book stands out as his Tullock's] best-written single authored work. The book sets out his own views on scientific method--views that he would faithfully reflect in all of his subsequent scholarship." In this book, Tullock focuses attention on the organization of science, raising important questions about scientific inquiry and specifically about the problems of science as a social system. Tullock poses such questions as how do scientists engage in apparently cooperative contributions in the absence of hierarchic organization and why are scientific contributions worthy, for the most part, of the public's trust? Throughout The Organization of Inquiry, he sets out to answer these questions and many more through a pioneering exploration of the interrelationship between economics and the philosophy of science, much of which defied then conventional wisdom. Anyone interested in any scientific endeavor will find the combination of Tullock's powerful logic, his sharp forensic skills, and his barbed wit completely elucidating and helpful to their pursuits. Gordon Tullock is Professor Emeritus of Law at George Mason University, where he was Distinguished Research Fellow in the Center for Study of Public Choice and University Professor of Law and Economics. He also taught at the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, Rice University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of Arizona. In 1966 he founded the journal that became Public Choice and remained its editor until 1990. Charles K. Rowley was Duncan Black Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow of the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy at George Mason University. He was also General Director of the Locke Institute.

Gordon Tullock is among a small group of living legends in the field of political economics. This volume provides an entree to the mind of an original thinker. Professor Rowley provides deliberately sparse contextual introduction to each volume, opting to allow the very able and eloquent Tullock to speak for himself.

When market forces fail us, what are we to do? Who will step in to protect the public interest? The government, right? Wrong. The romantic view of bureaucrats coming to the rescue confuses the true relationship between economics and politics. Politicians often cite "market failure" as justification for meddling with the economy, but a group of leading scholars show the shortcomings of this view. In Government Failure, these scholars explain the school of study known as "public choice," which uses the tools of economics to understand and evaluate government activity. Gordon Tullock, one of the founders of public choice, explains how government "cures" often cause more harm than good. Tullock provides an engaging overview of public choice and discusses how interest groups seek favors from government at enormous costs to society. Displaying the steely realism that has marked public choice, Tullock shows the political world as it is, rather than as it should be. Gordon Brady scrutinizes American public policy, looking closely at international trade, efforts at regulating technology, and environmental policy. At every turn Brady points out the ways in which interest groups have manipulated the government to advance their own agendas. Arthur Seldon, a seminal scholar in public choice, provides a comparative perspective from Great Britain. He examines how government interventions in the British economy have led to inefficiency and warns about the political centralization promised by the European Community. Government Failure heralds a new approach to the study of politics and public policy. This book enlightens readers with the basic concepts of public choice in an unusually accessible way to show the folly of excessive faith in the state.

Volume 8 in "The Selected Works of Gordon Tullock" draws from two highly acclaimed and path-breaking books by Gordon Tullock, The Social Dilemma (1974) and Autocracy (1987). In this work, Tullock explores political market behaviour that is based on conflict rather than on bargaining and thus behaviour that results in wealth reduction rather than in gains from trade. "The Social Dilemma: The Economics of War and Revolution" was written in response to the tumultuous events of the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, after the constitutional crisis caused by the Watergate scandal, Tullock acknowledged the Hobbesian nature of democracy. He posed that political figures are locked in wealth-reducing circumstances by the nature of the political game and inherent problems found in democracy. In Autocracy, Tullock provides a scientific analysis of dictatorships, using a rational choice model to analyse the behaviour of individuals under autocracy. Whereas most scholars have applied public choice theory only to co-operative, democratic states, Tullock extends the theory into new territory. In addition, his insights contribute to the discussion of pressing current issues, such as the transformation of autocracies into democracies.