The Samuels-Buchanan Correspondence and the Lost Opportunity for a Positive Public Choice Scholarship

This article revisits the debate between James Buchanan and Warren Samuels over Miller v. Schoene (1928). The initial court case—concerning the rights of government in the face of conflicting private interests—and subsequent debate between Buchanan and Samuels have important implications for the interrelations between legal and economic processes, the difference between a normative and positive theory of public choice, and the nature of public choice more generally. In published papers and private correspondence, the writings of Samuels reveal an alternative conception of public choice theory as a positive endeavor divorced from the free market normative implications of Buchanan’s work. Application of Samuels’ framework for public choice to rent seeking, the Coase Theorem, and income redistribution illustrate its continued relevance for political economy.