1932 – 1998
Mancur Olson (1932–1998) was an American economist and social scientist best known for his work on collective action, public goods, and the logic of group behavior. His landmark book *The Logic of Collective Action* (1965) challenged prevailing assumptions about group rationality, demonstrating that self-interested individuals will not voluntarily provide collective goods without selective incentives or coercion. His later work examined how distributional coalitions and institutional sclerosis contribute to national economic decline.
Developed the free-rider problem framework in *The Logic of Collective Action* (1965)
Introduced the concept of selective incentives to explain voluntary collective action
Argued in *The Rise and Decline of Nations* (1982) that interest-group coalitions cause institutional sclerosis and economic stagnation
Pioneered public choice applications to organizational theory and political science
Contributed foundational analysis of public goods, club goods, and collective decision-making