Public Finance and Public Policy
A Political Economy Perspective on the Responsibilities and Limitations of Government

Using a political-economy perspective this book is an introduction to the responsibilities and limitations of government in a market economy.

Arye L. Hillman (Author)

9781107136311, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 January 2019

652 pages
26.1 x 21 x 3.2 cm, 1.72 kg

This new edition restructures and updates the political economy view of the responsibilities and limitations of government. Public-choice and behavioural concepts are prominent. Gender issues are included. Technical concepts are explained from first principles. Economic theory is rigorously applied. Excessive technicality is avoided. The book integrates traditional public finance topics - taxation, public goods, externalities, and income redistribution - with political self-interest, bureaucracy, voting, rent seeking, corruption, and the common-pool problem of public spending. Social justice is viewed as income equality, equality of opportunity, or the right to benefit from one's own effort. Public policies studied include the environment, education, health insurance, welfare payments and entitlements under moral hazard, unemployment insurance, paternalistic impositions, and defence and public safety. This book is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses that combine economic theory with a real-world perspective on the politics of public finance and public policy. A broad scope makes the book suitable for students in all countries.

Part I. Personal and Public Finance: 1. Markets: personal finance
2. Government: public finance
Part II. Responsibilities of Government: Efficiency: 3. Public goods
4. Social costs and benefits
5. Restraint on personal choice
6. Information and efficiency
Part III. Responsibilities of Government: Social Justice and the Rule of Law: 7. Social insurance and moral hazard
8. Social justice in taxation
9. Social justice without government
10. The rule of law: protection of life and property
Part IV. Limitations of Government: Politics and Policies: 11. Voting and the common pool problem
12. Politics and efficiency
13. Politics and income distribution
14. Personal incentives in government
Part V. Concluding Overview: 15. The growth of government and the need for government
Appendix A. Topics in public policy
Appendix B. Supplements.

Subject Areas: Public finance [KFFD], Finance [KFF], Economics, finance, business & management [K]