Media Contact:
Carrie Conko
Director of Communications
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Office: 703-993-4899
Email: cconko@gmu.edu
James Buchanan
Nobel Laureate in Economics, George Mason Universitybtillman@gmu.edu
Biography
Economist James M. Buchanan is winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economic Science and Professor of economics at George Mason University. He is best known for developing the "public choice theory" of economics, which changed the way economists analyze economic and political decision making. Dr. Buchanan's work opened the door for the examination of how politicians' self-interest and non-economic forces affect government economic policy.
Dr. Buchanan got his start with a BA from Middle Tennessee State College in 1940, followed by a MS from the University of Tennessee in 1941. After graduating from the University of Chicago with a PhD in 1948, he held teaching positions at the University of Virginia, UCLA, and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
