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Public Finance,

Edition 4 A Normative Theory

Editors: By Richard W. Tresch

Publication Date: 21 Apr 2022

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Public Finance: A Normative Theory, Fourth Edition provides a classic text on the normative theory of government policy. This valuable and accessible resource covers the welfare aspects of public economics, with considerable coverage of European examples. The work presents detailed and comprehensive coverage of theoretical literature, empirical work, environmental issues, social insurance, behavioral economics and international tax issues. The book is organized logically, written in an engaging manner, and is both sufficiently rigid for use by those with PhDs in math and accessible to students less well trained in math.

Key Features

Provides a logical progression from normative theory to concise mathematical applications
Covers European examples, welfare economics and tax law updates
Includes pedagogical supplements such as end-of-chapter questions and answers

About the author

By Richard W. Tresch, Boston College, Massachusetts, USA

Part I: Introduction: The Content and Methodology of Public Sector Theory
1. Introduction to Normative Public Sector Theory
2. A General Equilibrium Model for Public Sector Analysis
3. First-Best and Second-Best Analysis and the Political Economy of Public Sector Economics

Part II: The Theory of Public Expenditures and Taxation—First-Best Analysis
4. The Social Welfare Function in Policy Analysis
5. The Problem of Externalities--An Overview
6. Consumption Externalities
7. Production Externalities
8. Global Warming: An Application of Externality Theory
9. The Theory of Decreasing Cost Production
10. The First-Best Theory of Taxation
11. Applying First-Best Principles of Taxation—What to Tax and How

Part III: The Theory of Public Expenditures and Taxation: Second-Best Analysis
12. Introduction to Second-Best Analysis
13. The Second-Best Theory of Taxation in One-Consumer Economies with Linear Production Technology
14. The Second-Best Theory of Taxation with General Production Technologies and Many Consumers
15. Taxation Under Asymmetric Information
16. The Theory and Measurement of Tax Incidence
17. Expenditure Incidence and Economy-Wide Incidence Studies
18. The Second-Best Theory of Public Expenditures: Overview
19. Transfer Payments and Private Information
20. Social Insurance: Medical Care
21. Social Insurance: Social Security
22. Externalities in a Second-Best Environment
23. Decreasing Costs and the Theory of the Second-Best—The Boiteux Problem
24. General Production Rules in a Second-Best Environment
25. Behavioral Public Sector Economics

Part IV: Fiscal Federalism and International Public Finance
26. Optimal Federalism: Sorting the Functions of Government Within the Fiscal Hierarchy
27. Optimal Federalism: The Sorting of People within the Fiscal Hierarchy
28. The Role of Grants-in-Aid in a Federalist System of Governments
29. International Public Finance

Title Reviews

"...a detailed introduction to theoretical work on many of the core issues in contemporary public economics. Careful and comprehensive, it will provide readers with an ideal springboard to further research."—James M. Poterba, Mitsui Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

"...outstanding in the breadth of its coverage, in the quality of exposition, and in the balance between theory and policy...especially good at melding newer approaches to the normative study of the public sector with traditional ones."—Robin Boadway, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada

"I have hoped for years that Richard Tresch would revise his Public Finance text. This volume is well worth the wait. It is comprehensive, up-to-date, and very clearly written. It is a natural reading for a graduate course in public finance. It will also serve as a fine reference for specialists in the field."—Harvey Rosen, Department of Economics, Princeton University, Princeton, USA

ISBN: 9780128228647

Page Count: 568

Retail Price (USD) :

Handbook of Public Economics. Auerbach and Feldstein, eds.

Vol. 1. 1985 9780444876126. 863 copies for $98,708 (incomplete results) (print only)

Vol. 2. 1987 9780444879080. 920 copies for $106,941 (incomplete results) (print only)

Vol. 3. 2002 9780444823144. 2,135 copies for $264,717 (print only)

Vol. 4. 2002 9780444823151 1,967 copies for $231,474 (print only)

Vol. 5. June 2012. 9780444537591.

Public Finance, 2nd ed. Tresch. 9780126990515. May 2002. 950 pp., $207. $108,055(p)+$5,185(e)=$113,240

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