1. Profiling giants: The networks and influence of Buchanan and Tullock
- Author
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Frédéric Gannon, Etienne Farvaque, Lille économie management - UMR 9221 (LEM), Université d'Artois (UA)-Université catholique de Lille (UCL)-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Equipe d'Economie Le Havre Normandie (EDEHN), Université Le Havre Normandie (ULH), and Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)
- Subjects
Dissertation students ,Economics and Econometrics ,Scrutiny ,Sociology and Political Science ,Tullock ,I23 ,jel:D85 ,Public choice ,050905 science studies ,JEL: A - General Economics and Teaching/A.A1 - General Economics ,jel:I23 ,0502 economics and business ,Public Choice ,Profiling (information science) ,Co authorship ,Sociology ,050207 economics ,Positive economics ,JEL: A - General Economics and Teaching/A.A1 - General Economics/A.A1.A14 - Sociology of Economics ,JEL: D - Microeconomics ,05 social sciences ,jel:A14 ,JEL: I - Health, Education, and Welfare/I.I2 - Education and Research Institutions/I.I2.I23 - Higher Education • Research Institutions ,Public Choice JEL Classification: A14 ,Co-authorship ,[SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and Finance ,Influence ,JEL: D - Microeconomics/D.D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty/D.D8.D85 - Network Formation and Analysis: Theory ,Buchanan ,0509 other social sciences ,Networks ,Centrality ,D85 ,JEL: A - General Economics and Teaching ,Public finance ,Network analysis - Abstract
This paper uses network analysis to measure the positions and influences of two prominent academics, James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, founders of public choice theory. First, we recount parallel accounts of their lives. Second, we provide a literature review and outline the standard centrality measures insisting on their relevance in assessing the two authors' roles in a given network. Third, we analyze their respective influences through the lens of network analysis by providing details on the publication records and, overall, co-authorship networks of the two scholars. We also explore their academic genealogy and show in particular that (i) Buchanan and Tullock's careers followed parallel paths and co-founded public choice theory and the journal of the same name, although the two had few common works; (ii) though being apparently very similar as to their centrality in the co-authoring network under scrutiny, their ego-networks were structured very differently, revealing diverse positions in the field and, thus, different influences on the discipline.
- Published
- 2020