James M. Buchanan: Through an Austrian window

This tribute to the late James Buchanan is an elaboration of themes he developed on the importance of processes in real, experienced time, especially for individual choice. The conventional way of modeling choice is to think of it as the solution to a constrained maximization problem. If, however, we look at choice as a process in time it is inseparable from the evolution and self-development of the individual. Preferences emerge in the process of their becoming. The fundamental characteristic of choice is thus the expression of autonomy and not the satisfaction of given preferences. The implications of this for normative economics are explored.