Table Of Contents
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 (44)
The Public Sector
3 (22)
Politics and Economics
4 (2)
Public Choice or Benevolent Despot?
5 (1)
The Activities of Government
6 (10)
Federal, State, and Local Governments
6 (2)
Federal Expenditures
8 (3)
The Federal Deficit and Interest Expenditures
11 (1)
Federal Government Revenues
12 (2)
The Growth of Government in the Twentieth Century
14 (1)
International Comparisons
15 (1)
Conclusion
16 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
17 (8)
Principles for Analyzing Government
25 (20)
The Market Economy
26 (1)
Economic Efficiency and the Competitive Market
26 (1)
The Role of Government
27 (2)
The Market System and Individual Rights
29 (2)
The Government as Protector of Rights
29 (1)
The Government as Violator of Rights
30 (1)
The Public Interest
31 (2)
The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number
31 (1)
Utilitarianism
32 (1)
The Pareto Criteria
33 (4)
Market Exchange and the Pareto Criteria
35 (1)
Political Exchange and the Pareto Criteria
35 (1)
Limitations of the Pareto Criteria
36 (1)
Other Measures of the Public Interest
37 (3)
Potential Compensation
37 (1)
The Social Welfare Function
38 (1)
Cost-Benefit Analysis
39 (1)
Positive and Normative Economics
40 (2)
Normative Analysis and the Public Interest
41 (1)
Equity and Efficiency: The Goals of Public Policy
42 (1)
Conclusion
43 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
44 (1)
PART II ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY
45 (84)
Property Rights and Economic Efficiency
47 (21)
Property Rights
47 (1)
Poorly Defined Property Rights
48 (2)
Overuse of Resources with Poorly Defined Property Rights
50 (2)
Property Rights and the Protection of Endangered Species
51 (1)
Property Rights and Resource Allocation
51 (1)
The Coase Theorem
52 (3)
Income Effects
53 (1)
The Reciprocal Nature of the Problem
54 (1)
Do Property Rights Have to Be Predefined?
54 (1)
Small Numbers and Large Numbers
55 (1)
Small Numbers Mean Low Transactions Costs
55 (1)
Large Numbers Mean High Transactions Costs
55 (1)
Transactions Costs and Property Rights
56 (1)
The Common Pool Problem
56 (2)
Common Ownership and Overuse
57 (1)
Solutions to the Common Pool Problem
57 (1)
Government versus Private Ownership
58 (4)
Government Ownership and Resource Allocation
58 (1)
Public Policy and Government Ownership
59 (1)
Communal Ownership in Centrally Planned Economies
60 (1)
The Incentives of Government Managers
61 (1)
Property Rights and Entitlements
62 (1)
Land Use Planning: An Application of Property Rights Theory
62 (4)
Property Rights and the Law of Nuisance
63 (1)
The Justification for Zoning Laws
63 (1)
Restrictive Covenants
64 (1)
Twenty-First Century Land Use Planning
65 (1)
Conclusion
66 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
67 (1)
Externalities
68 (22)
The Definition of an Externality
68 (1)
Public Policy toward Externalities
69 (1)
Negative Externalities
70 (1)
Negative Externalities in a Supply and Demand Framework
71 (4)
Private Actions to Correct an Externality
72 (1)
Corrective Taxation of an Externality
72 (1)
What Should Be Taxed?
73 (1)
Should Compensation Be Paid to Those Who Are Harmed?
74 (1)
Taxation versus Regulation
75 (3)
The Politics of Quotas versus Taxes
77 (1)
Incentives for Pollution Reduction with Regulation versus Taxation
77 (1)
Marketable Pollution Rights
78 (2)
Marketable Rights in the Clean Air Act of 1990
79 (1)
Politics and Pollution Control
79 (1)
The Optimal Amount of Pollution
80 (1)
Positive Externalities
81 (2)
Excess Burden and Excess Benefit
83 (1)
Technological and Pecuniary Externalities
83 (2)
Marginal and Inframarginal Externalities
85 (3)
Negative Inframarginal Externalities
86 (1)
Positive Inframarginal Externalities
87 (1)
Conclusion
88 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
89 (1)
Public Goods
90 (18)
Collective Consumption Goods
91 (4)
The Argument for Public Sector Production
91 (2)
The Argument for Private Sector Production
93 (1)
Congestion of Collective Consumption Goods
94 (1)
The Optimal Output of a Collective Consumption Good
95 (3)
Vertical Summation of Individual Demand Curves
95 (1)
Lindahl Pricing
96 (2)
Pure and Impure Collective Consumption Goods
98 (1)
Public Policy toward Collective Consumption Goods
99 (1)
Nonexcludability
100 (2)
Nonexcludability as a Prisoners' Dilemma
100 (2)
Exclusion Costs and Public Sector Production
102 (1)
Nonexcludability and Collective Consumption in Public Goods
102 (2)
Public Policy toward Public Goods
104 (2)
Conclusion
106 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
107 (1)
The Economic Role of the State
108 (21)
Protection of Rights
109 (1)
Protection of Rights in a Market Economy
109 (1)
How Much Protection Is Optimal?
110 (1)
Government Production
110 (1)
Government Regulation
111 (1)
Information and Regulation
111 (1)
Politics and Regulation
112 (1)
The Capture Theory of Regulation
112 (6)
Special Interests versus the General Public
112 (1)
The Regulatory Agency as a Cartel
113 (1)
The Equilibrium Level of Regulation
114 (2)
The Transitional Gains Trap
116 (1)
Regulation in Perspective
117 (1)
Redistribution
118 (2)
Reasons for Government Redistribution
118 (1)
Politics and Redistribution
119 (1)
Stabilization
120 (1)
Can the Government Perform These Functions?
120 (1)
Information Problems
120 (1)
Policy Conflicts
121 (1)
Will the Governments Perform These Functions?
121 (1)
The Free Rider Problem
122 (1)
Free Riding and Shirking
122 (1)
Free Riding and Understatement of Demand
123 (1)
The Holdout Problem
123 (2)
Solutions to the Holdout Problem
124 (1)
Eminent Domain
124 (1)
Unanimity and Holdouts
125 (1)
Consent and Coercion
125 (1)
Conclusion
126 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
127 (2)
PART III AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF DEMOCRACY
129 (70)
A Theory of Collective Action
131 (23)
Collective Action and Collective Decision Making
131 (2)
Collective Action
132 (1)
Individual Preferences and Group Preferences
132 (1)
The Pareto Principle and the Rule of Unanimity
133 (1)
Optimal Departures from Unanimity
134 (3)
Decision-Making Costs
134 (1)
External Costs
135 (1)
The Optimal Decision Rule
136 (1)
Optimal Club Output and Club Size
137 (3)
The Optimal Sharing Group
139 (1)
Representative Democracy
140 (1)
The Economic Model of Democracy
141 (1)
Optimal Constitutional Rules
142 (4)
The Rawlsian Veil of Ignorance
143 (1)
Renegotiation of the Contract
143 (2)
Consensus and Constitutional Rules
145 (1)
Rules and Outcomes: A Procedural Theory of Justice
145 (1)
Applying the Procedural Theory of Justice
146 (1)
The Evolution of Cooperation
146 (4)
Axelrod's Tournament
147 (1)
Implications of Axelrod's Tournament
148 (1)
The Results of Human Action but Not of Human Design
149 (1)
The Normative Basis for Government
150 (1)
Conclusion
151 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
152 (2)
Public Sector Demand
154 (21)
The Median Voter Model
155 (3)
The Committee Process
155 (1)
A Referendum Model
156 (1)
The Median Voter in a Representative Democracy
157 (1)
Representative Democracy
158 (5)
The Decisive Median Voter
159 (1)
Candidates Tend to Adopt Similar Platforms
159 (1)
Extreme Candidates
160 (1)
The Equilibrium Number of Political Parties
161 (2)
The Cyclical Majority
163 (3)
Single-Peaked Preferences
163 (1)
Cycles and Political Institutions
164 (2)
Information and Incentives
166 (4)
The Political Marketplace
166 (1)
Rational Ignorance of Voters
166 (1)
Special Interests
167 (1)
Special Interests versus the Public Interest
168 (1)
The Demand for Immediate Results
169 (1)
Public Sector Demand in Theory and in the Real World
170 (1)
The Median Voter Model and Political Competition
170 (1)
Economic Efficiency and the Median Voter
171 (1)
Public Sector Efficiency
171 (1)
Efficiency in the Real World
172 (1)
Conclusion
172 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
173 (2)
Supply and Demand in Political Markets
175 (24)
Special Interests and Government Programs
176 (3)
Special Interests and Political Exchange
176 (2)
Representation of Interests and the Organization of Congress
178 (1)
Logrolling and Political Exchange
179 (2)
Logrolling and Special Interests
180 (1)
Logrolling and Economic Efficiency
180 (1)
Agenda Control
181 (3)
A Referendum Example
182 (1)
Agenda Control in the Real World
183 (1)
Rent Seeking
184 (3)
The Welfare Costs of Rent Seeking
186 (1)
Public Sector Suppliers
187 (3)
Incentives in Bureaucracy
188 (1)
Utility and Budget Maximization in the Public Sector
188 (1)
The Public Interest and Budget Maximization
189 (1)
The Bureaucrat's Maximand
189 (1)
The Public Sector Bargaining Process
190 (3)
The Bureau and the Legislature
190 (1)
The Bureau's Bargaining Advantage
190 (1)
The Bureaucratic Bargaining Process
191 (2)
The Government as an Interest Group
193 (1)
Fiscal Federalism
193 (2)
Federalism and Special Interests
193 (1)
Federalism and Consumer Choice
194 (1)
Comparisons with Other Governments
194 (1)
Production at Lower Levels of Government
195 (1)
Conclusion
195 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
196 (3)
PART IV TAXATION
199 (150)
Positive Principles of Taxation
201 (23)
Tax Shifting
202 (3)
A Unit Tax Placed on Suppliers
202 (1)
A Unit Tax Placed on Demanders
203 (1)
A Tax on Suppliers versus a Tax on Demanders
204 (1)
Elasticities and Tax Incidence
205 (3)
Perfectly Elastic or Perfectly Inelastic Supply
206 (1)
Shifts in the Tax Burden
207 (1)
The Welfare Cost of Taxation
208 (3)
The Excess Burden as a Cost of Taxation
210 (1)
Lump Sum Taxes
210 (1)
Excess Burden and Individual Choice
211 (4)
Inelastic Labor Supply and the Welfare Cost of an Income Tax
213 (1)
Utility Functions and Excess Burden
214 (1)
Minimizing the Excess Burden of Taxation
215 (3)
The Ramsey Rule
216 (1)
The Marginal Cost of Public Spending
217 (1)
Additional Costs of the Tax System
218 (2)
Compliance Costs
219 (1)
Administrative Costs
219 (1)
Political Costs
219 (1)
Earmarked Taxes
220 (2)
General Fund Financing versus Earmarking
220 (1)
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Earmarking
221 (1)
Conclusion
222 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
223 (1)
Principles of Tax Policy
224 (19)
The Benefit Principle
225 (2)
Efficiency and the Benefit Principle
225 (1)
Actual Taxes and the Benefit Principle
226 (1)
The Ability-to-Pay Principle
227 (2)
Ability to Pay and the Benefits of Public Expenditures
227 (1)
Ability to Pay and the Public Interest
228 (1)
Implementing Ability to Pay
229 (3)
Horizontal Equity
229 (2)
Vertical Equity
231 (1)
Progressive, Proportional, and Regressive Taxes
232 (2)
Sumptuary Taxes
234 (2)
Sumptuary Taxes and Excess Burden
234 (1)
Sin Taxes and Healthy Living
235 (1)
Politics and Tax Policy
236 (3)
Special Interests and Taxation
236 (1)
Federal versus State and Local Taxation
237 (1)
Tax Reform
238 (1)
Tax Policy in the Real World
239 (1)
Equity and Efficiency
239 (1)
Individual Taxes versus the Tax System
239 (1)
Conclusion
240 (2)
Questions for Review and Discussion
242 (1)
Taxes on Economic Transactions
243 (26)
Excise Taxes, Unit Taxes, and Ad Valorem Taxes
243 (4)
Unit Taxes versus Ad Valorem Taxes
244 (1)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Unit Taxes and Ad Valorem Taxes
245 (1)
Revenues from Excise Taxes
246 (1)
User Charges
247 (4)
User Charges and Economic Efficiency
247 (1)
User Charges and Demand Revelation
247 (1)
User Charges and Equity
248 (1)
Approximating User Charges in the Real World
249 (1)
User Charges as Taxes
249 (1)
User Charges and Public Enterprise
249 (1)
Revenues from User Charges
250 (1)
Import and Export Taxes and Quotas
251 (5)
Import and Export Taxes and Revenue Generation
251 (1)
Import Taxes and Trade Restrictions
252 (2)
Quotas versus Tariffs
254 (1)
Trade Agreements
255 (1)
General Sales Taxes
256 (5)
A General Sales Tax as a Consumption Tax
256 (1)
Is the Sales Tax Regressive?
257 (1)
Sales Taxes and the Internet
258 (1)
Income and Substitution Effects
259 (1)
Can Leisure Be Taxed?
260 (1)
Turnover Taxes
261 (1)
The Value Added Tax
261 (5)
The Value Added Tax versus the Sales Tax
262 (2)
The Value Added Tax in the European Union
264 (1)
The Visibility of the Tax
265 (1)
A Value Added Tax in the United States?
266 (1)
Conclusion
266 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
267 (2)
The Taxation of Income
269 (20)
Sales, Consumption, and Income Taxes
270 (2)
Sales and Consumption Taxes
270 (1)
Consumption and Income Taxes
271 (1)
Taxes on Saving
271 (1)
Definitions of Income
272 (4)
In-Kind Benefits
272 (1)
Changes in Wealth
273 (1)
Imputed Rental Income
274 (2)
The Income-Leisure Trade-Off
276 (2)
Taxed versus Nontaxed Activities
276 (1)
Income versus Leisure
276 (2)
The Backward-Bending Supply Curve of Labor
278 (3)
Tax Rates and Tax Revenues
281 (3)
Rates and Revenues in the 1980s
282 (1)
Taxes Paid by Income Groups for Three Decades
283 (1)
Average and Marginal Tax Rates
284 (2)
Marginal Tax Rates and Excess Burden
285 (1)
The Flat Tax
285 (1)
The Double Tax on Saving
286 (1)
Conclusion
287 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
287 (2)
Personal Income Taxation in the United States
289 (19)
A Brief History of the U.S. Income Tax System
289 (5)
Federal Income Tax Rates
290 (1)
Withholding
291 (1)
Tax Reform in 1964, 1986, and 2002
292 (2)
Calculating Taxable Income
294 (4)
Computation of Income
294 (1)
Exemptions
295 (1)
Deductions
295 (2)
Tax Computation
297 (1)
Tax Credits
298 (1)
Broadening the Tax Base
298 (2)
The Alternative Minimum Tax
300 (1)
Tax Expenditures
300 (2)
Inflation, Indexation, and Bracket Creep
302 (2)
Individual Retirement Accounts
304 (1)
The Roth IRA
305 (1)
Other Tax-Deferred Savings Methods
305 (1)
Conclusion
305 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
306 (2)
Taxes on Business Income and Wealth
308 (25)
The Corporate Income Tax
308 (4)
Characteristics of the Corporate Income Tax
309 (1)
Interaction between Corporate and Personal Income Taxes
310 (1)
Fringe Benefits
311 (1)
Depreciation
312 (1)
The Burden of the Corporate Income Tax
313 (4)
Competitive Markets
314 (1)
Monopoly
315 (2)
The Income Tax and the Return to Bearing Risk
317 (1)
The Taxation of Capital Gains
317 (3)
Unrealized Capital Gains
318 (1)
Capital Gains Taxation as a Double Tax
318 (1)
Inflation and Capital Gains
319 (1)
Wealth and Property Taxation
320 (1)
Incentives in Income Taxes and Wealth Taxes
321 (1)
Unrealized Capital Gains and Wealth Taxation
321 (1)
The Property Tax
322 (2)
Locational Decisions and the Property Tax
322 (1)
Property Tax Limitations
323 (1)
Differing Property Tax Rates
324 (1)
Site Value Taxation
324 (3)
Site Value Taxation versus Property Taxation
325 (1)
Site Value Taxation and the Value of Land
326 (1)
The Inheritance Tax
327 (2)
Avoiding the Tax
327 (1)
Justifications for an Inheritance Tax
328 (1)
Severance Taxes
329 (1)
Conclusion
329 (2)
Questions for Review and Discussion
331 (2)
The Tax System in the United States
333 (16)
Federalism and the Tax System
334 (1)
Federal Taxes
335 (1)
Intergovernmental Revenues
336 (1)
State and Local Taxes
337 (2)
The Progressivity of the Tax System
339 (2)
Political Influences on the Tax System
341 (1)
Tax Reform
342 (2)
Comprehensive versus Piecemeal Tax Reform
343 (1)
Revenue-Neutral Tax Reform
343 (1)
Taxes in Isolation and the Tax System
344 (1)
Conclusion
345 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
346 (3)
PART V GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE PROGRAMS
349 (150)
The Government Budgeting Process
351 (18)
The Federal Budgeting Process
352 (2)
Budgetary Reform in the Twentieth Century
352 (1)
The President's Budget
352 (1)
The Congressional Budget
353 (1)
Incrementalism
354 (2)
The Effects of Special Interests
354 (1)
Incrementalism and Efficiency
355 (1)
Politics and the Federal Budget
356 (1)
Entitlements
357 (1)
Off-Budget Expenditures
357 (1)
Program Budgets versus Line Item Budgets
358 (2)
The Planning-Programming-Budgeting System
359 (1)
Cost-Benefit Analysis
360 (3)
Enumerating the Options
360 (1)
Enumerating the Costs and Benefits
360 (1)
Converting the Costs and Benefits to Dollar Terms
361 (1)
Cost-Benefit Analysis as a Decision-Making Tool
362 (1)
Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Public Interest
362 (1)
The Discount Rate
363 (2)
Present Value Measurement of Costs and Benefits
363 (1)
Choosing the Right Discount Rate
364 (1)
Average and Marginal Benefits
365 (1)
Taxing and Spending
366 (1)
Conclusion
367 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
368 (1)
Taxation and Redistribution
369 (18)
Principles of Taxation and Redistribution
369 (1)
Equality as a Social Goal
370 (2)
Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Results
372 (1)
Fair Rules and Fair Outcomes
372 (1)
The Goal of Equality
373 (2)
Utilitarian Justifications
373 (1)
Utility Maximization of Those Least Well Off
374 (1)
Charity as a Collective Consumption Good
375 (1)
Charitable Giving as a Pareto Superior Move
375 (1)
The Incentive to Free Ride
375 (1)
Redistribution as Insurance
376 (1)
Progressive Taxation and Wage Adjustment
376 (2)
Distributive Government
378 (2)
The Incentive Structure of Government Programs
378 (2)
Redistributive Programs and the Poor
380 (2)
Incentives to Earn Less Income
380 (1)
The Hard-Core Poor and the Marginal Poor
381 (1)
Growing Dependency on Government Programs
381 (1)
The Politics of Redistribution
382 (3)
Administrator Incentives
383 (1)
The Goals of Redistribution
384 (1)
Conclusion
385 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
386 (1)
Government Redistribution Programs
387 (19)
Cash versus Payment in Kind
387 (3)
Cash Payments and Utility Maximization
388 (1)
The Rationale for In-Kind Payments
389 (1)
The Negative Income Tax
390 (4)
The Incentive to Substitute into Leisure
391 (1)
Redistribution and the Income of the Poor
392 (1)
The Excess Burden of a Negative Income Tax
393 (1)
The Earned Income Tax Credit
394 (1)
Temporary Aid to Needy Families
394 (2)
Food Stamps
396 (3)
Housing Subsidies
399 (2)
Public Housing
399 (1)
Rent Subsidies
400 (1)
Homelessness
401 (2)
Conclusion
403 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
404 (2)
Social Security
406 (21)
The Social Security Payroll Tax
407 (2)
Contributions
407 (2)
The Structure of the Tax
409 (1)
The Burden of the Payroll Tax
409 (1)
Tax Shifting and the Payroll Tax
409 (1)
The Visibility of the Payroll Tax
410 (1)
Coverage
410 (2)
Eligibility
411 (1)
The Redistributive Nature of the Program
411 (1)
The Pay-as-You-Go System of Financing
412 (1)
The Viability of Pay-as-You-Go
413 (1)
The Political Determination of Benefits and Costs
413 (1)
Social Security and Capital Accumulation
414 (2)
Funded Pensions
415 (1)
Unfunded Pensions
415 (1)
The Growth of the Social Security Program
416 (1)
Social Security as an Investment
417 (4)
The Structure of the System
420 (1)
Future Tax Rates
420 (1)
Growth in Income
420 (1)
The Future of Social Security
421 (1)
Proposals for Reform
421 (4)
Insurance and Welfare
421 (1)
Raising the Retirement Age
422 (1)
Eliminating Pay-as-You-Go
422 (1)
Financing the Program's Deficit from General Revenues
423 (1)
The Cost of the Imbalance in Social Security Revenues and Expenditures
424 (1)
Conclusion
425 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
426 (1)
Education
427 (15)
The Growth in Education: Students and Expenditures
427 (3)
Rationales for Government Involvement
430 (2)
Education Produces a Positive Externality
430 (1)
Socialization
430 (1)
Fairness
431 (1)
The Level of Government Financing
432 (1)
Competition, Vouchers, and School Choice
433 (4)
Vouchers
433 (1)
Public School Choice
434 (1)
Charter Schools
435 (1)
Homeschooling
436 (1)
School Choice at the College Level
436 (1)
The Payoff to Education
437 (3)
Income Advantages to Education
437 (1)
Signaling versus Human Capital
438 (1)
Education and Productivity
439 (1)
Conclusion
440 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
440 (2)
Health Care
442 (18)
Rationales for Government Involvement
442 (1)
Public Health
443 (2)
Public versus Private Health
444 (1)
Public Health Policy
444 (1)
Health Insurance
445 (1)
Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection
446 (1)
Health Insurance Incentives
447 (3)
Deductibles and Copayments
448 (1)
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
448 (1)
Hospital Reimbursement for Insured Expenses
449 (1)
The Evolution of Twentieth-Century Health Care
450 (1)
Government Health Care Programs
451 (3)
Medicare
451 (1)
Medicaid
452 (2)
Health Care Reform
454 (3)
Universal Coverage
454 (1)
The Canadian System
454 (1)
Medical Savings Accounts
455 (1)
Employer Mandates
456 (1)
Pay or Play
456 (1)
Interest Groups and Health Care Reform
457 (1)
Conclusion
457 (2)
Questions for Review and Discussion
459 (1)
National Defense
460 (16)
The Level of Military Expenditures
461 (7)
The Marginal Benefits of Additional Expenditures
462 (2)
The Arms Race and the War on Terror
464 (1)
Military Alliances
465 (1)
Economic Warfare
466 (1)
Do Democracies Spend Enough?
467 (1)
Military Procurement Contracts
468 (2)
Fixed Fee
468 (1)
Cost Plus Fixed Fee
469 (1)
Cost Plus Percentage Fee
469 (1)
Cost Plus Incentive Fee
469 (1)
The Perfect Contract
470 (1)
Procurement versus Life-Cycle Costs
470 (1)
Procurement and Maintenance
470 (1)
Getting the Foot in the Door
471 (1)
Conscription versus Volunteers
471 (2)
Conclusion
473 (1)
Questions for Review and Discussion
474 (2)
The Federal System of Government
476 (23)
The Theoretical Foundations of Federalism
476 (3)
Economies of Scale
477 (1)
Coordination of Large Programs
477 (1)
Public Goods
478 (1)
Externalities
478 (1)
The Optimal Sharing Group
478 (1)
Intergovernmental Competition
479 (3)
Intergovernmental Competition and Consumer Choice
479 (1)
Mobility and Intergovernmental Competition
480 (1)
Other Governments as a Basis for Comparison
481 (1)
The Roles of Different Levels of Government
482 (2)
Special Interests and Government Size
484 (1)
Federalism and Special Interests
484 (1)
Centralization and the Cartelization of Governments
485 (2)
Competition in the Public Sector
486 (1)
The Number of Governments
486 (1)
Regulations and Grants
487 (1)
Regulation and Competition
488 (1)
Grants and Competition
488 (1)
Intergovernmental Revenue
488 (7)
General Grants
489 (1)
Categorical Grants
490 (2)
Matching Grants
492 (2)
The Flypaper Effect
494 (1)
Tax Issues and Local Governments
495 (1)
Taxes Paid by Immobile Factors
495 (1)
Capitalization of Debt
495 (1)
Capitalization of Public Goods
496 (1)
Deductibility of State and Local Taxes
496 (1)
Conclusion
496 (2)
Questions for Review and Discussion
498 (1)
Glossary 499 (8)
Index 507
林德尔·G·霍尔库姆(Randal G.Holcombe),美国佛罗里达州立大学经济学教授,在弗吉尼亚大学获得经济学博士学位,从事经济学和公共经济学教学30余年。除了在大学教授经济学以外,还曾担任美国智库詹姆斯·麦迪逊研究所的高级研究员,并于2000-2006年担任佛罗里达州政府的经济顾问,2006-2008年任美国公共选择学会主席,自2007年起担任奥地利经济发展学会主席。主要研究领域是公共财政以及公共政策问题的经济学分析。先后出版专著12部并发表论文100余篇。本书是其在佛罗里达州立大学多年来教授公共经济学的经验结晶。
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这部著作的分析视角相当独特,它没有陷入那种刻板的、纯粹的理论模型推演,而是真正地将公共部门的复杂性置于现实的政治经济框架下进行审视。作者在探讨政府干预的合理性时,并没有简单地用“市场失灵”一词草草带过,而是深入挖掘了不同制度环境下,信息不对称和激励机制如何扭曲了公共政策的预期效果。特别是关于“寻租行为”和“政策俘获”的章节,文笔犀利,逻辑严密,让人不得不反思那些看似高效的公共项目背后可能隐藏的系统性弊端。我尤其欣赏作者对“公共选择理论”的运用,它不仅仅是把它当作一个理论工具,而是将其融入到对具体政策执行层面的观察中,比如,在涉及基础设施建设的决策过程中,不同利益集团的博弈是如何塑造最终的财政支出路径的。这种从宏观理论到微观行为的过渡,使得整本书的论证既有深度又不失生动,为理解政府行为提供了一个极其丰富的解析工具箱。它挑战了那种认为政府总是能以最优方式解决问题的天真假设,而代之以一种更为审慎、基于现实约束的批判性思维。
评分从结构上看,作者显然是花了大心思来构建一个循序渐进但又充满挑战性的知识体系。开篇部分奠定的基础非常扎实,但有趣的是,它并没有像许多入门书籍那样用冗长的定义来拖沓,而是迅速将读者带入了核心的政策困境之中。随后章节的推进,如同剥洋葱一般,一层层揭示了公共财政决策背后的非理性因素。最让我感到耳目一新的是关于“规制经济学”的论述,它巧妙地避开了对具体行业规制的逐一分析,而是聚焦于规制的设计原则和制度演变,强调了“规制惰性”是如何阻碍社会适应新的技术和市场环境的。这种“宏观框架下的制度分析”方法,让读者学会了如何跳出具体的政策细节,去审视更深层次的制度障碍。我发现自己开始用一种全新的、更加结构化的眼光来审视日常生活中接触到的各种政府文件和公共声明。
评分这本书的深度体现在它对“效率”和“公平”这对永恒矛盾的辩证处理上。很多教科书要么侧重于福利最大化的纯数学推导,要么仅仅停留在对社会公正的道德呼吁上,但这部作品成功地搭建了连接两者之间的桥梁。作者非常坦诚地指出,在公共物品的供给中,任何试图最大化效率的举措,都必然要面对重新分配资源所引发的政治阻力,反之亦然。特别令人印象深刻的是关于“代际公平”的论述,它没有简单地将预算赤字视为一个纯粹的经济指标,而是将其提升到了未来世代权利的高度来审视。这种对时间维度和价值权衡的关注,使得书中的许多结论都带有强烈的现实关怀和紧迫感。读完后,我发现自己看待任何政府预算报告时,都会不自觉地去寻找那些潜在的、未被充分披露的价值取舍,而不是仅仅关注报表上的数字增减。
评分这本书的价值不仅在于它提供了多少既有的知识,更在于它激发了读者去质疑既定范式。作者行文风格中有一种毫不妥协的求真精神,尤其是在讨论“政府失灵”的来源时。他没有将原因归结于某些腐败的个体,而是深入剖析了官僚体系本身的激励结构缺陷和信息反馈机制的滞后性。这种对系统性问题的挖掘,使得讨论的层次大大提高。举例来说,关于“公共部门的绩效评估”一章,它没有提供任何万能的指标体系,而是详细阐述了为什么任何单一指标都可能被操纵,并引导读者思考如何设计一个能够容忍不确定性和学习过程的评估框架。这要求读者付出更多的思考努力,但收获是巨大的——它教会我们认识到,在公共领域,寻求完美的解决方案往往是通往平庸甚至更糟结果的捷径,而接受并管理不完美,才是真正的智慧所在。
评分阅读体验上,这本书的叙事节奏掌握得非常出色,它不像有些学术著作那样枯燥乏白,而是巧妙地穿插了一些历史案例来佐证其论点。例如,当谈及税收公平性时,书中引用的关于二十世纪初某国税制改革的案例,极具画面感,让我得以直观地理解那些抽象的“税基侵蚀”和“税负转嫁”是如何在真实社会中上演的。作者在行文间展现出一种罕见的跨学科能力,它不仅仅是经济学的范畴,更融入了政治学和社会学的观察角度。比如,在讨论公共服务供给的效率时,它没有停留在传统的“私有化优于国有”的二元对立上,而是细致地分析了不同治理模式(如公私伙伴关系PPP)下的风险分配机制及其长期影响。这种多维度的考察,让原本可能显得单薄的经济学概念变得立体而有血有肉,极大地拓宽了我对“公共管理”这一领域的认知边界。我感觉自己仿佛在跟随一位经验丰富的老向导,穿越一片由法规、预算和政治意图交织而成的迷宫。
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