Speaker to Discuss Public Choice Economics

Nikolai G. Wenzel, associate professor of economics at Flagler College, will give a presentation about public choice economics entitled “Baptists and bootleggers: the strange alliances of politics! Who really writes financial legislation?” at 7 p.m. April 25 in Violette Hall 1010.

The beginnings of public choice theory stem from Gordon Tullock and Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan who worked to explain how public decisions are made. It applies economic principles to the interaction of the voting public, politicians, political action committees and the bureaucracy of government. Wenzel’s research focuses on constitutional political economy and the institutions that promote human liberty and flourishing, with an emphasis on the role of ideology and culture, the history of ideas and the work of Austrian Nobel Prize-winning economist F. A. Hayek.

Wenzel is a former foreign service officer with the U.S. State Department. He worked at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, where he was vice consul and special assistant to the U.S. ambassador. He later worked for various Washington, D.C.-area think tanks, including the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, the Mercatus Center and the Institute for Humane Studies. His doctoral coursework and dissertation focus on Argentina’s failed constitution and economy.

Wenzel is a member of the Mont Pelerin society, sits on the executive committee of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and teaches for the Foundation for Economic Education. He was recently inducted as a Friend of the Arts and Distinguished Member of the SAI Music Fraternity.

The lecture is open to the public and free of charge. For more information, contact David Gillette.