James M. Buchanan (1919-2013) was Professor Emeritus and Advisory General Director of the James Buchanan Center for Political Economy at George Mason University, where he also established the Center for the Study of Public Choice. He authored several books, including his most famous work, The Calculus of Consent, which he co-authored with Gordon Tullock. Buchanan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1986 for his work in public choice theory.