Topics in Public Economics
Theoretical and Applied Analysis

This volume presents developments in urban geography, club theory, local public finance, and international trade which contribute to the explanation of the modern opposing trends.

David Pines (Edited by), Efraim Sadka (Edited by), Itzhak Zilcha (Edited by)

9780521144865, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 June 2010

372 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This book is a fitting tribute to the memory of Eitan Berglas … a diverse and highly original set of papers spanning the many areas where issues of decentralization and integration must be appropriately balanced, a task that draws heavily on Berglas's legacy'. Robin Boadway, Queens University

This volume, first published in 1998, presents developments in urban geography, club theory and local public finance, and international trade which contribute to the explanation of the modern opposing trends of integration and segregation. Part I explores the role of transportation costs, crowding, and preferences for a large variety of goods in shaping the main features of urban geography. Part II contains four contributions on fundamental issues associated with the provision of collective goods (club goods and local public goods) using a game-theoretic approach. Part III investigates features of the production, pricing, and consumption of congested public goods. The articles discuss the financing of transportation infrastructure (a special case of a congested public facility) in an intertemporal framework, the efficiency of monopolistic provision of congested public goods, the 'musical-suburbs' problem, and the influence of cessation forces on federations. Part IV covers key tax issues arising in a world where economic borders are gradually being removed.

Foreword Haim Ben-Shahar
Introduction Efraim Sadka, David Pines and Itzhak Zilcha
Part I. New Perspectives on Urban Development: 1. A 'slime mold' model of city formation Paul A. Krugman
2. The size of regions: transport and housing as factors in agglomeration Elhanan Helpman
Part II. The Economics of Clubs: 3. First and second welfare theorems for economies with collective goods Vicky Barham and Myrna H. Wooders
4. Anonymous pricing in Tiebout economies and economics with clubs John Conley and Myrna H. Wooders
5. Decentralization in club economies: how multiple private goods matter Robert P. Gilles and Suzanne A. Scotchmer
6. Incentives and disagglomerative forces: some modelling problems Roger Guesnerie
Part III. The Provision of Public Goods: 7. Self-financing of congestible facilities in a growing economy Richard Arnott and Marvin Kraus
8. The monopolistic provision of congested public goods William H. Oakland
9. Imperfect solutions to the musical-suburbs problem John D. Wilson
10. Nationalism and secession Daniel Berkowitz
Part IV. Taxation and Distribution: 11. Why is there corporate taxation in a small open economy? The role of transfer pricing and income shifting Roger H. Gordon and Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason
12. Patterns of tax arbitrage and decentralized tax autonomy Bernd Genser
13. Destination- and origin-based taxation under international capital mobility A. Lans Bovenberg
14. Factor mobility, risk, and redistribution in the welfare state David E. Wildasin.

Subject Areas: Economics [KC]