This Festschrift was "presented" in electronic form to Buchanan on the
occasion of his eightieth birthday on October 3, 1999, after dinner in
Fairfax, Virginia. As one might have expected, the response to our call
for papers was vo- luminous. In looking over the many contributions, we
felt that a "published" Festschrift was also possible and fitting for
the eightieth birthday of so prodi- gious and influential a scholar as
Professor Buchanan. To that end we have assembled the following volume.
In selecting the papers to be included here we have basically tried to
choose those papers which in some way bear on Buchanan's contributions.
Perfectly good papers about issues not related to Buchanan's research
agenda or not referring directly to Buchanan's work were not included.
Space constraints did not allow universal coverage, so choices had to be
made. It should be stated clearly that these were our choices based on
the criterion that the contribution be relevant to Buchanan's work.
Buchanan had nothing whatsoever to do with the selection of papers for
this volume. Once choices had been made, we arranged the papers by
subject matter ranging from various aspects of Buchanan's work in
economics, political science, philosophy, and related areas, to some
more personal recollections of Jim as a professor, friend, and
colleague. Including the latter material was also our decision, and this
probably represents a choice with which Jim would not have agreed. We
think, however, that the reader will find these pieces interesting and
informative.