Economists turned the same self-interest lens on politicians as markets

James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock argued that politicians and bureaucrats aren't selfless public servants — they respond to incentives just like consumers and firms do, favoring policies that win votes or grow their budgets over ones that serve the public best. The idea reshaped how economists study government, and won Buchanan a Nobel Prize.

— James M. Buchanan & Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent — University of Michigan Press, 1962
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