Frank Knight and the Origins of Public Choice

Abstract

Did Frank Knight play a role in the formation of public choice theory? We argue that the dimensions of James Buchanan’s thought that form many of the core insights of public choice become clearer when seen against the work of his teacher, Frank Knight. Buchanan is demonstrative about his indebtedness to Knight; he terms him “my professor” and refers to his work frequently. Yet the upfront nature of this acknowledgement has perhaps served to short-circuit analysis as much as to stimulate it. Our analysis will center on Knight’s Intelligence and Democratic Action, a collection of lectures given in 1958 (published 1960), when he was invited by Buchanan to the University of Virginia. The lectures rehearse a number of ideas from other works, yet represent an intriguingly clear connection to ideas Buchanan would present over the coming two decades. In that sense, primarily through his influence on Buchanan, Knight can be seen as one of the largely unacknowledged forefathers of public choice theory.

Keywords

• Knight (Frank)
• Buchanan (James)
• public choice
• rules of the game
• liberalism