Buchanan's outstanding theoretical contribution is the creation of the fair choice theory.

Public choice economics is based on a fundamentally simple but controversial idea—namely, that those who hold government office are rational, selfish people whose behavior can be This is understood by analyzing the various incentives faced during his tenure. The main corollary of this idea is that government may not necessarily correct a problem, but may in fact make it worse. Despite its rise in fame, the public choice doctrine is still resisted by many academics because it attacks ideas cherished by two powerful academic groups: a group of economists who argue that governments adopt "welfare economics" The public interest can be achieved through prescription, while another group of political scientists believe that diversified competition among various interest groups will achieve the public interest.

People in the press who engage in political reporting also tend to deny the doctrine of fair choice. The doctrine of public choice is controversial because it overturns the prevailing economic and political thinking for decades. Samuelson, an economist at MIT, is a typical example of mainstream thinking. He wrote in his 1958 The 2000 edition of the famous textbook "Introductory Analysis" endorsed the view that government regulation should replace rugged individualism to make life more humane.

Samuelson and other economists minimize the possibility that the government will worsen the situation as it tries to remedy the shortcomings of the private economy. So do outstanding political scientists, who believe that democratic government reflects the will of society through competition among interest groups, although this reflection is imperfect. Buchanan believed that in a democratic society many government decisions do not truly reflect the wishes of citizens, and that the government's flaws are at least as serious as those of the market.