Have you ever wondered why discount stores all locate in the same parts of the city, and are typically right next to one another? This is also true of car dealers, bookshops, furniture stores, antique dealers, and fast-food restaurants. Travel to other countries and you observe the same phenomenon. What does this clustering of similar stores have to do with candidates in two-party elections espousing almost identical positions? Among the major candidates who ran for US president in the 2000 primary campaign, it was virtually impossible from listening to their positions – if they bothered to reveal one – to know their party affiliations. Is John McCain a Republican or a Democrat? The same question could be asked about Bill Bradley. Party labels have become less descriptive of candidates' positions. This is not only true in the United States; for example, is Britain's Tony Blair a Tory or a Labour Party member? The field of public choice, which applies economic methods to the study of political science, addresses the convergence of candidates' platforms as well as myriad other questions. These questions include the following. Does a multiparty system provide more choice than its two-party counterpart? Does logrolling serve a useful purpose, or does it lead inevitably to too much government as vote trading allows for the passage of more spending programs? Can majority rule lead to the efficient provision of public goods?