James M. Buchanan and the Political Economy of Desegregation

Were 1986 Nobel Laureate James M. Buchanan's formative contributions to political economy inspired in significant part by hostility to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision? Nancy MacLean's 2017 Democracy in Chains argues that public choice economics emerged from an opportunistic alliance with Virginia's “Massive Resistance” to school integration and should thus be situated within the racially tinged tradition of southern conservatism. While Buchanan wrote very little on the economics of race, archival evidence and his published works do not support this thesis. Buchanan's work is better understood with reference to his Chicago school mentor Frank Knight and the Italian public finance tradition rather than southern conservatism. To the contrary, we suggest Buchanan believed the competitive processes generated by an educational voucher system would likely undermine rather than rescue the racially segregated status quo. Furthermore, Buchanan's associations and activities suggest that racial hierarchy was not part of his normative vision.     

S. Charles Maurice: In Memoriam

S. Charles (Chuck) Maurice, long-time member and former officer of the Southern Economic Association, died March 4, 1999, in Gainesville, Florida. He was 67 years old. Maurice is survived by his wife Niccie L. McKay, an economist in Health Services Administration at the University of Florida; two sons (S. Charles Maurice Jr. and John Michael Maurice); a daughter (Ann Maurice Cragin); eight grandchildren; and a sister, Sandy McKissick.     

In Memoriam

De hier volgende regelen Waren bestemd om geplaatst te worden aan het hoofd van het eerstvolgend gedeelte der Koloniale Kroniek, vermoedelijk in het Maartnummer. De Economist wil echter niet wachten met het voegen van zijne stem bij die van zoovelen, die een woord van hulde brachten aan den edelen, geliefden Vorst, zoo plotseling aan Nederland en Oranje outvallen. Vandaar de afzonderlijke plaatsing van dit I n Memoriam.     

In Memoriam

Rotterdam, April 1874.     

Helge W. Nordvik In Memoriam

Abstract

Professor Helge W. Nordvik died suddenly on October 18, only 55 years old. He was trained both as historian and as economist at the Universities of Oslo and Bergen, and at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Most of his post-graduate education was spent at the LSE in London, where he obtained his MSc in economic history.