Duncan Black, FBA (23 May 1908 – 14 January 1991) was a Scottish economist who laid the foundations of social choice theory.
In particular he was responsible for unearthing the work of many early political scientists, including Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, and was responsible for the Black electoral system, a Condorcet method whereby, in the absence of a Condorcet winner (e.g. due to a cycle), the Borda winner is chosen.
[1] Black was born in Motherwell, Scotland, an industrial town south east of Glasgow, to a working-class family.
[2] He graduated from the Dalziel High School in Motherwell and then studied mathematics and physics at the University of Glasgow.
There Black was influenced by his colleague Ronald Coase, originator of the Theory of the Firm.