From The Calculus of Consent to public choice and to public economics in a public choice approach

摘要

1. The Calculus of Consent did not merely originate a new area of theoretical research in constitutional economics-per se a great achievement. It is the origin of the scientific approach of "public choice" to economics and politics, which has influenced other social sciences, such as sociology, political philosophy, and economic ethics, in which a constitutional order is paramount. When the book appeared, public economics and political economy were dominated by two streams of thought with a "paternalistic" approach, the Keynesian and the post-Pigouvian.