• About
  • Courses
  • Contact

Stay Updated

Enter your email to receive updates on the IPPE.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • About
  • Courses
  • Contact
  • Login / Create an Account
  • Share:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin

Economics and the Pursuit of Happiness

5 Parts, 15 Lessons, 51 Videos   3H 30M
Parts
  • Introduction
  • Political Economy and Public Choice
    • Lesson 1: Political Implications of Economic Systems
    • Lesson 2: The Public Choice Perspective
    • Lesson 3: Bureaucracy and the Commercial Order
  • Moral Dimensions of Property and Trade
    • Lesson 4: Justice in Exchange
    • Lesson 5: Social Aspects of Justice and Commerce
    • Lesson 6: Property, Production, and Distribution
  • The Contest of Ideas: Keynes and Hayek
    • Lesson 7: John Maynard Keynes: Radical Conservative
    • Lesson 8: Hayek: Conserving Freedom
    • Lesson 9: Keynesianism and the Limits of Economics
  • The Contest of Ideas: Free to Choose?
    • Lesson 10: Freedom of Choice
    • Lesson 11: Hayek: Libertarian Paternalism
    • Lesson 12: On the Nature of Liberty
  • The Moral Dimensions of the Market Economy
    • Lesson 13: Moral Norms
    • Lesson 14: Justifying Income, Wealth, and Capitalism
    • Lesson 15: Market Freedom, Efficiency, and Tradition

Lesson 2 Lesson 2: The Public Choice Perspective

Presented by: Dr. Jay Richards and Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley
Busch School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America and George Mason University

Playlist

  1. Lesson 2, Video 1 - Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley
  2. Lesson 2, Video 2 - Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley
  3. Lesson 2, Video 3 - Dr. Jay Richards
  4. Lesson 2, Video 4 - Dr. Jay Richards

Economies: Private and Public

The persistence of policy failures despite progress in economics provided a group of economists known as the Public Choice School with the opportunity for scientific innovation. Their innovation was to apply economic theory to voting and policy making in a manner that parallels its application to business and consumer decision-making. This economics of the public sector—public choice—has developed into a field that crosses over between the academic communities of economics and political science.

Key Concepts: (1) Public Economy, (2) Private Economy, (3) Public Good, (4) Public Choice Economics

Lesson 2 Quick Quiz

Test Your Understanding of Lesson 2

Login or Create an Account to take quiz.

EPH Lesson 2: The Public Choice Perspective

Step 1 of 4

25%
  • Hidden
    You will receive a copy of your results by email

“The imperfections of market solutions to public-goods problems must be weighed against the imperfections of government solutions.”

Tyler Cowen

“Adopting the assumption that all individuals, be they voters, politicians, or bureaucrats, are motivated more by self-interest than by public interest evokes a Madisonian perspective on the problems of democratic governance.”

William F. Shughart II

“The essential wisdom of the 18th century, of Adam Smith and classical political economy and of the American Founders, was lost through two centuries of intellectual folly. Public choice does little more than incorporate a rediscovery of this wisdom and its implications into economic analyses of modern politics.”

James M. Buchanan

Learn More

h Link

Tyler Cowen, “Public Goods,” The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 431-432.

Read Now
h Link

William F. Shugart II, “Public Choice Theory,” The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 427-430.

Read Now
h Link

James M. Buchanan, “Public Choice: Politics without Romance,” Policy, 19 (3) (2003), p. 13-18.

Read Now
h PDF

James M. Buchanan, "Constitutional Political Economy" in C. K. Rowley and F. Schneider, ed., 2004, The Encyclopedia of Public Choice, v. 2, pp. 60-67.

Read Now
h Video

“Public Choice Theory: Why Government Often Fails,” with Antony Davies and Learn Liberty

Watch Now
h Video

“A Conversation with James Buchanan”

Watch Now
h Video

“A Conversation between James Buchanan and F. A. Hayek”

Watch Now

Sign Up or Login To Take This Free Course!

Economics and the Pursuit of Happiness

Create an account or login to take this course.

Need Assistance?

Contact us, we're here to help.

Call us at 800-526-7022 or email at ippe@isi.org

Stay Updated

Enter your email to receive more information on ISI online course, videos, and books.

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Contact

Intercollegiate Studies Institute
3901 Centerville Road
Wilmington, DE 19807
ppe@isi.org