Gordon Tullock: Pioneer of Public Choice Theory

Gordon Tullock (February 13, 1922 – November 3, 2014) was an American professor of law and economics at George Mason University School of Law. He is best known for his work on public choice theory, the application of economic thinking to political issues, and was one of the founding figures in his field.

Early Life and Education

Tullock was born in Rockford, Illinois, where he graduated from Rockford Central High School. He attended the University of Chicago, taking a break for military service during World War II before receiving his J.D. in 1947. He later completed Chinese language instruction at Yale and Cornell universities.

Career and Achievements

After a brief period in private practice, Tullock joined the Foreign Service in fall 1947 and was posted to Tianjin, China, later serving in Hong Kong and Korea. He resigned from the Foreign Service in 1956. While working at the University of South Carolina teaching international studies, he began collaboration with James M. Buchanan at the University of Virginia on The Politics of Bureaucracy, which eventually led to their joint work The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy (1962). This book quickly became seminal in the emerging field of public choice.

Buchanan and Tullock founded a new journal in 1966, initially called Papers in Non-Market Economics and later retitled Public Choice, where they published articles applying economic theory to non-market phenomena, particularly government and politics. Despite never having taken any economics courses, Tullock and Buchanan ran an economics research program together for four years. Disagreements with the University of Virginia administration led Tullock to leave.

In 1967, Tullock identified many concepts of rent-seeking in a seminal paper. He moved to Virginia Polytechnical Institute (now Virginia Tech) in 1968, joined by Buchanan a year later. At VPI, Tullock wrote influential works including Private Wants, Public Means (1970), The Logic of the Law (1971), The Social Dilemma (1974), and The Vote Motive (1976). He remained editor of Public Choice until 1990.

In 1983, Tullock and the Center for Study of Public Choice relocated to George Mason University. He taught at GMU from 1983 to 1987, then at the University of Arizona from 1987 to 1999 before returning to George Mason as a professor of law and economics in 1999. He retired in 2008 after publishing more than 150 papers and 23 books, 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).

Notable Events and Milestones

Tullock developed a theory of rent-seeking, adapted from concepts introduced by economist David Ricardo in the 19th century. According to public choice theory, rent-seeking involves securing profits through the political process rather than market exchange—for example, when firms, unions, or special-interest groups lobby politicians to influence legislation in their favor. Tullock also formulated the Tullock paradox, examining why rent-seeking is so inexpensive.

The thought experiment known as “Tullock’s spike” proposed that governments could reduce road casualties by mandating sharp spikes on steering wheels, theorizing that risk compensation would lead drivers to operate vehicles more safely and ultimately reduce fatalities.

Awards and Honors

In 1994, Tullock received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. In 1996, he was elected to the American Political Science Review Hall of Fame. He became a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association in 1998. Tullock 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.

Additional Resources

For more detailed information about Gordon Tullock’s life, career, and contributions to economics and political theory, readers are encouraged to consult Wikipedia and other biographical archives dedicated to his extensive scholarly work and influence on public choice theory.