An early precursor of modern public choice theory was the work of Swedish economist Knut Wicksell (1896),Knut Wicksell (1896 [1958]). "A New Principle of Just Taxation," J.M. Buchanan, trans., in Richard A. Musgrave and Alan T. Peacock, ed. (1958). Classics in the Theory of Public Finance, Palgrave Macmillan, an essay from Wicksell (1896), Finanzthcoretische Untersuchungen, Jena: Gustav Fischer. which treated government as political exchange, a quid pro quo, in formulating a benefit principle linking taxes and expenditures.• Dennis C. Mueller (1976). "Public Choice: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, 14(2), p. 396. [pp. 395–433.    • James M. Buchanan(1986). "The Constitution of Economic Policy," IV. Politics as Exchange & V. The Constitution of Economic Policy, Nobel Prize lecture. Republished in 1987, American Economic Review, 77(3), pp. 243–250 . American statesman and political theorist John C. Calhoun is also seen as a precursor to modern public choice theory. His writings on political economy anticipate the "public choice revolution" in modern economics and political science.
