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Gordon Tullock (; February 13, 1922 – November 3, 2014) was an American professor of law and economics at the George Mason University School of Law. He is best known for his work on
public choice theory Public choice, or public choice theory, is "the use of economic tools to deal with traditional problems of political science." Gordon Tullock, 9872008, "public choice," '' The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics''. . It includes the study of ...
, the application of economic thinking to political issues. He was one of the founding figures in his field.


Early life and education

Tullock was born February 13, 1922, in
Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...
, where he attended and graduated from Rockford Central High School. Tullock attended the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
where, after a break for military service during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he received a J.D. in 1947. He later completed
Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...
instruction at
Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
and Cornell universities.


Career

Following a brief period in private practice, he joined the Foreign Service in fall 1947, and was posted to
Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...
, China and later to
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
and
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
. In 1956, he resigned from the Foreign Service. While he originally intended to pursue a career as a foreign trader in the Far East, his work on ''The Politics of Bureaucracy'' eventually led him to begin collaboration with James M. Buchanan at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
while Tullock worked at the
University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...
teaching international studies. Tullock's collaboration with Buchanan produced ''
The Calculus of Consent ''The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy'' is a book published by economists James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock in 1962. It is considered to be one of the classic works from the discipline of public choice ...
: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy'' (1962), which quickly became a seminal work in the new field of public choice. He later joined Buchanan as a faculty colleague at Virginia. Despite Tullock never having taken any economics courses, for four years Buchanan and Tullock ran an economics research program. They founded a new journal for their field (1966), first called ''Papers in Non-Market Economics'' and eventually titled '' Public Choice'', where they invited articles applying economic theory to all sorts of non-market phenomena, especially in the realm of government and politics. Despite the success of the book and the journal, disagreements with the UVA administration eventually led Tullock to leave. In 1967, Tullock identified many of the concepts of what came to be known as
rent-seeking Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic effi ...
in a seminal paper. Tullock moved to Virginia Polytechnical Institute (VPI, now called Virginia Tech) in 1968 and was joined by Buchanan a year later. There they continued the Public Choice Society and the journal, of which Tullock remained editor until 1990. At VPI, Tullock wrote a number of influential articles and books, including ''Private Wants, Public Means'' (1970), ''The Logic of the Law'' (1971), ''The Social Dilemma'' (1974), and ''The Vote Motive'' (1976). In 1983, Tullock and the Center for Study of Public Choice moved to
George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...
, at the time a relatively unknown school in
Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...
. Tullock taught at GMU from 1983 to 1987 and at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
from 1987 to 1999. He continued to publish widely (more than 150 papers and 23 books in all), including "The Economics of Wealth and Poverty" (1986), ''Autocracy'' (1987), ''Rent Seeking'' (1993), ''The Economics of Non-Human Societies'' (1994) and ''On Voting: A Public Choice Approach'' (1998). In 1999 he returned to George Mason as a professor of law and economics, where he retired in 2008. Tullock's book, ''The Politics of Bureaucracy'', has been criticized for overlooking a substantial body of literature. A number of authors have criticized Tullock and the public choice tradition as being too simplistic in its explanation of political behavior.


Rent-seeking

Tullock developed a theory referred to as
rent-seeking Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic effi ...
, adapted from the term and concept introduced by economist
David Ricardo David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British political economist, politician, and member of Parliament. He is recognized as one of the most influential classical economists, alongside figures such as Thomas Malthus, Ada ...
in the 19th century. Rent seeking, according to public choice theory, is securing profits through the political process rather than the market process of exchange. An example of rent seeking is when a firm, union, or special-interest group lobbies political actors (e.g., politicians or bureaucrats) to influence legislation in a beneficial manner. This can lead to
moral hazard In economics, a moral hazard is a situation where an economic actor has an incentive to increase its exposure to risk because it does not bear the full costs associated with that risk, should things go wrong. For example, when a corporation i ...
when politicians make policy decisions based on the lobby instead of the efficiency of the policy. Tullock also formulated and considered the Tullock paradox, namely, the paradox of why rent-seeking is so cheap.


Tullock's spike

The name "Tullock's spike" refers to a
thought experiment A thought experiment is an imaginary scenario that is meant to elucidate or test an argument or theory. It is often an experiment that would be hard, impossible, or unethical to actually perform. It can also be an abstract hypothetical that is ...
in which Tullock suggested that if governments were serious about reducing road casualties, they should mandate that a sharp spike be installed in the center of each car's steering wheel, to increase the probability that an accident would be fatal to the driver. Tullock's idea was that the normal process of
risk compensation Risk compensation is a theory which suggests that people typically adjust their behavior in response to perceived levels of risk, becoming more careful where they sense greater risk and less careful if they feel more protected. Although usually ...
would then lead to safer driving by the affected drivers, thereby actually reducing driving fatalities.


Awards and recognition

In 1994 Tullock was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and in 1998 became a distinguished fellow of the
American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...
. He served as President of the Southern Economic Association, the International Atlantic Economic Society (1998–1999), the Western Economic Association, The Association For Private Enterprise Education and the
Public Choice Society In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
. In 1996 he was elected to the ''American Political Science Review'' Hall of Fame. He was sometimes considered a longshot candidate for the
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...
.


Death

On November 3, 2014, Tullock died at the age of 92 in
Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
.


References


Further reading

*


External links


Faculty Biography from George Mason University

Tullock's bio
at the
Mercatus Center The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. The Mercatus Center is located at the George Mason University campus, but it is privately funded and its employees are independent of the university. It ...
*
Profile of Tullock in National Review
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tullock, Gordon 1922 births 2014 deaths People from Rockford, Illinois Economists from Illinois University of Chicago alumni Antonin Scalia Law School faculty Public choice theorists Distinguished fellows of the American Economic Association 20th-century American economists 21st-century American economists University of South Carolina faculty Virginia Tech faculty University of Arizona faculty American military personnel of World War II American expatriates in China American expatriates in South Korea Member of the Mont Pelerin Society