James Buchanan won the Nobel Prize for his contributions to public finance, public choice, and constitutional policy economy. Yet he faced considerable hostility and roadblocks in building research centers at the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and George Mason University. We provide the historical context behind this trajectory of career setbacks, responses to those setbacks, and ultimate success.

Peter J. Boettke is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University.
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J. R. Clark is the Scott Probasco Professor in Private Enterprise at the University of Tennessee.
John Kroencke is a research fellow at the Center for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics.
EducationHigher Education
Other Independent Review articles by Peter J. Boettke
Fall 2023 Don Lavoie: The Failures of Socialist Central Planning
Winter 2022/23 Mont Pèlerin 1947: Transcripts of the Founding Meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society
Spring 2022 Albert O. Hirschman: An Intellectual Biography
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Other Independent Review articles by J. R. Clark
Fall 2011 Shrinking Leviathan: Can the Interaction Between Interests and Ideology Slice Both Ways?
Spring 2005 Economic Freedom in the World, 2002
Spring 2004 Global Warming and Its Dangers