ABSTRACT
This book contains a set of papers and accompanying discussions which were presented at a Resources for the Future forum on applications of public choice theory. The forum was held to explore the promise of this line of study in helping to solve the very serious institutional problems that crop up whenever we attempt to deal with specific substantive policy issues such as those of interest to RFF (energy, resources, and pollution). Beyond this broad aim, it seemed potentially valuable to bring together in one place examples of a growing but still quite fragmented literature. If, however, the collection is to appeal to those not currently working in public choice, it is desirable to provide some background and to put the papers into perspective against that background. These are the aims of this introductory essay.
