James M. Buchanan, Jr. (1919-2013) was an American economist. He was awarded as Nobel Laureate in Economics in 1986 for his development of the «public choice theory» of economics that unifies economics and political decision making. He was a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute and professor at George Mason University. Buchanan held a BA from Middle Tennessee State College, a MS from the University of Tennessee and a PhD from the University of Chicago.