Formal Contributions to the Theory of Public Choice: The Unpublished Works of Duncan Black

Front Matter....Pages i-xii
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introductory Notes....Pages 3-4
Hobbes’s Contribution to Abstract Political Science....Pages 5-11
How Expenditure of the Tax Proceeds Came to be Disregarded in the Theory of Incidence....Pages 13-28
Historical Notes: The Pythagoreans, Rev. C. L. Dodgson, Knut Wicksell and Lord Keynes....Pages 29-39
Some Notes on the Development and Structure of the Theory of Committees....Pages 41-61
Front Matter....Pages 63-63
Introductory Notes....Pages 65-65
Some Important Distinctions: The Traditional Distinction Between Instrumental and Independent Actions....Pages 67-69
Rational Behavior....Pages 71-74
The Mechanism of Hedonistic Choice....Pages 75-91
The Commensurability of Intensities of Desires (Pleasures)....Pages 93-109
That the Same Mathematical Model Applies in Epistemology....Pages 111-118
The Assumptions — Imperfect Knowledge, Divided Expectations and the Discount....Pages 119-123
Front Matter....Pages 125-125
Introductory Notes....Pages 127-129
On Logrolling....Pages 131-132
Logrolling....Pages 133-151
Wicksell’s Use of the Theory of Committees in Public Finance....Pages 153-176
The Geometrical Theory of a Special Majority....Pages 177-187
The Theory of an International Committee Requiring a Unanimous Decision....Pages 189-194
Dicey on Log-Rolling....Pages 195-196
Front Matter....Pages 197-197
Introductory Notes....Pages 199-199
Front Matter....Pages 197-197
The Concept of Cost in Economics....Pages 201-211
Wicksteed’s Theorem that the Concept of Supply Could be Dispensed with, and its Narrower and Wider Implications....Pages 213-223
Front Matter....Pages 225-225
Introductory Notes....Pages 227-228
The Theory of Relative Utility Following the Second Austrian School....Pages 229-242
Definition of Relative Weights and the Hypothesis that Choice Follows the Condorcet or Borda Criterion....Pages 243-251
A Suggested Application of the Theory of Committees in Value and Probability....Pages 253-262
Back Matter....Pages 263-271