Public Finance
by Carl S. Shoup, Steven Medema
Publisher: Transaction PublishersPages: 680
Paperback
ISBN: 9780202307855
Overview of Public Finance
Broad in scope and carefully balanced in emphasis, this book is a major treatise on the theory and practice of public finance. It is unique in its presentation of a worldwide perspective and in its treatment of both the instruments of public finance and the goals, effects, and criteria of public finance measures. The book is divided into three parts. Book One defines the field, specifies the possible meaning of the "effects" of a public finance measure, and describes the criteria by which these measures are commonly appraised. Book Two is concerned with micro public finance and opens with a discussion of the theory of public goods in general. Each of the major free government services and types of transfer payments as well as the taxes that government employs are then examined. This section concludes with a chapter on the relevant aspects of government borrowing and inflationary finance. Book Three considers the major goals of public finance policy and describes how the various instruments described in Book Two can be used in achieving these goals. Among the topics treated are the use of appropriate instruments to resolve conflict in goals, conceptual problems of measuring the public finance sector and its maximum and minimum economic limits, consensus goals of equity full employment and Pareto-optimism use of resources, and goals that evoke conflicts of interest within any community. "A very scholarly book of genuine value to its field by Shoup, one of the outstanding authorities in public finance in the world."âChoice Carl S. Shoup was McVikar Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University. At General MacArthur's request he led the team creating modern Japan's tax system. He was described as "the dean of contemporary public finance experts." Steven Medema is professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado at Denver. He is the author of Economics and the Law and Historians of Economics and Economic Thought and serves as editor of the Transaction Classics in Economics series.
Synopsis of Public Finance
Shoup (political economy, Columbia U.) takes a comprehensive and global approach to the issue of how people pay for their governments' services, while also considering the goals, effects, and criteria of the public finance methods they use. Graced with a new introduction by Steven Medema, this edition includes such topics as the scope and effects of public finance and the criteria of public finance analysis. Under the general topic of public finance at the "micro" level Shoup covers government outlays, including expenditure administration, services, and unrequited payments, and government receipts, including sales and excise taxes, income and expenditure taxes, property taxes, and taxes on labor, import and export as well as government borrowing and inflationary finance. At the "macro" level he covers the basic framework of public finance, the optimum output pattern, full employment and capacity utilization, distribution of disposable income and economic growth, stability, and inter-governmental fiscal coordination. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Editorials
From the Publisher
âAs might have been expected from the author, the treatment throughout is well informed, both in its analysis and its institutional detail. Students and scholars will find it a useful reference work.â âJames M. Buchanan, The Journal of Business âShoupâs book is a noteworthy summary of the state of the art in public finance. That the book is so long and difficult is more a reflection of the intricacy and breadth of the field than any desire on the part of Shoup to write a long and difficult book. Both in its topical coverage and in its substantive analysis, the book is more descriptive and pragmatic than a usual public-finance bookâreflecting as it does Shoupâs career as a practitioner of public finance. Another plus for the book is that it is a truly general source book in public finance. It does not limit its analysis to the United States, but rather studies instruments used in other countries besides the United States and public-finance problems and effects encountered in other countries. For all of these reasons, Shoupâs book is a valuable addition to the public-finance literature.â âEdward M. Gramlich, The Journal of Finance âProfessor Shoupâs new book will command attention for a long time⦠There can be no question that this is an outstanding work of erudition based on a life-time of scholarship and practical experience. Not only does the author range over the whole of the traditional field of public finance theory but he draws upon examples from many different countries to support his arguments.â âA. R. Prest, Journal of Economic LiteratureReceive unbeatable book deals in your favorite fiction or non-fiction genres. Our daily emails are packed with new and bestselling authors you will love!
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