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Public Finance or Public Choice? Scholastic Political Economy as an Essentialist Synthesis

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  • Mohammadhosein Bahmanpour-Khalesi

    (Imam Sadiq University)

  • Mohammadjavad Sharifzadeh

    (Imam Sadiq University)

Abstract

Nowadays, it is thought that there are only two approaches to political economy: public finance and public choice; however, this research aims to introduce a new insight by investigating scholastic sources. We study the relevant classic books from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries and reevaluate the scholastic literature based on public finance and public choice doctrines. The findings confirm that the government is the institution for realizing the common good according to a scholastic attitude. Therefore, scholastic thinkers saw a typical government mission based on their essentialist attitude toward human happiness. Social conflicts and lack of social consent are the product of diversification in ends and desires; hence, if the ends of humans were unified, there would be no conflict of interest. Accordingly, if the government acts according to its assigned mission, the lack of public consent is not significant. Based on the scholastic point of view, this study introduces the third approach to political economy, which can be considered an analytical synthesis of classical doctrines.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammadhosein Bahmanpour-Khalesi & Mohammadjavad Sharifzadeh, 2024. "Public Finance or Public Choice? Scholastic Political Economy as an Essentialist Synthesis," Post-Print hal-04614845, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04614845
    DOI: 10.52547/jep.5.1.217
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04614845
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Keywords

    Scholastic Economics; Essentialism; Political Economy; Public Finance; Public Choice; Arrow's impossibility;
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