This morning brings sad news of the death of the Australian economist and political scientist Geoffrey Brennan. A frequent co-author with the late Nobel-laureate economist James Buchanan, Geoff’s contributions are enormous. For me, his 1993 book co-authored with Loren Lomasky, Democracy & Decision: The Pure Theory of Electoral Preference, is not only his best work, it’s also among the books that most influenced my way of thinking. (And I know that it prominently influenced also Bryan Caplan, who in 2007, with The Myth of the Rational Voter, brilliantly expanded on the theme.)
Geoff also did the great service of co-editing this 2008 collection of some of the papers and lectures of the late Paul Heyne, as well as the Collected Works of James M. Buchanan.