Some Reflections on The Calculus of Consent

Buchanan and Tullock claim in The Calculus of Consent that their analysis does not depend for its validity on the assumption of homo economicus. Some thirty years later Brennan and Buchanan argued that homo economicus is the relevant assumption for institutional design. If the prime task of comparative institutional analysis is conceived to be how the views and interests held by one individual can be reconciled with the views and interests of others, then either altruistic or self-centred behavior can be relevant to the analysis depending on the case at hand. Buchanan and Tullock's claim is therefore not without some justification. © 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers,.