Public Finance: A Normative Theory

by Richard W. Tresch

Overview

Featuring a general equilibrium framework that is both cohesive and versatile, the second edition of Public Finance: A Normative Theory brings new and updated information to this classic text. Through its concentration on the microeconomic theory of the public sector, it addresses the subjects traditionally at the heart of public sector economics, including public expenditure theory and policy, tax theory and policy, cost benefit-analysis, and fiscal federalism. Its goal of providing a foundation for public sector analysis along with presenting the most recent scholarship makes this second edition both a valuable text and a resource for professionals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780323984157
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	01/07/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	568
File size:	27 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Richard Tresch earned a bachelor’s degree in 1965 from Williams College and a doctorate in
economics in 1973 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a teaching assistant
prior to joining Boston College. He joined the Boston College faculty in 1969, and during his
49-year-long career in the college, Dr. Tresch has served as the Chairman of the Department of
Economics, Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of Undergraduate Studies. Currently, he is
Professor Emeritus of Economics at Boston College. In 1996, he was chosen as the Massachusetts
Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He was one
of 585 national entrants in the foundation’s U.S. Professors of the Year Program, which salutes
outstanding undergraduate instructors, with the award recognized as one of the most prestigious
honors to be bestowed on professors. Dr. Tresch, a member of the American Economic Association,
has served on the board of editors of the American Economic Review and contributed to the New
England Journal of Business and Economics and Public Finance. Moreover, he is the editor of a fourvolume
major reference work on public sector economics.

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction: The Content and Methodology of Public Sector Theory1. Introduction to Normative Public Sector Theory2. A General Equilibrium Model for Public Sector Analysis3. 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 Analysis4. The Social Welfare Function in Policy Analysis5. The Problem of Externalities—An Overview6. Consumption Externalities7. Production Externalities8. Global Warming: An Application of Externality Theory9. The Theory of Decreasing Cost Production10. The First-Best Theory of Taxation11. Applying First-Best Principles of Taxation—What to Tax and How

Part III: The Theory of Public Expenditures and Taxation: Second-Best Analysis12. Introduction to Second-Best Analysis13. The Second-Best Theory of Taxation in One-Consumer Economies with Linear Production Technology14. The Second-Best Theory of Taxation with General Production Technologies and Many Consumers15. Taxation Under Asymmetric Information16. The Theory and Measurement of Tax Incidence17. Expenditure Incidence and Economy-Wide Incidence Studies18. The Second-Best Theory of Public Expenditures: Overview19. Transfer Payments and Private Information20. Social Insurance: Medical Care21. Social Insurance: Social Security22. Externalities in a Second-Best Environment23. Decreasing Costs and the Theory of the Second-Best—The Boiteux Problem24. General Production Rules in a Second-Best Environment25. Behavioral Public Sector Economics

Part IV: Fiscal Federalism and International Public Finance26. Optimal Federalism: Sorting the Functions of Government Within the Fiscal Hierarchy27. Optimal Federalism: The Sorting of People within the Fiscal Hierarchy28. The Role of Grants-in-Aid in a Federalist System of Governments29. International Public Finance

What People are Saying About This

Harvey Rosen

... comprehensive, up-to-date, and very clearly written... 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)

From the Publisher

Delivers a unique perspective on public finance easily applied to the changing relationships between governments and markets

Robin Boadway

..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)

James M. Poterba

This volume offers 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)

Peter Diamond

This clear and comprehensive text will be a valuable resource for both students and faculty. (Peter Diamond, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Editorial Reviews

"Richard Tresch’s graduate textbook, Public Finance, A Normative Theory, has become the standard reference for graduate courses in public economics. He has now updated the textbook, with the same clear, informative, and illuminating writing, while maintaining the high level of rigor of the previous editions. The revised textbook contains many new and useful insights. I look forward to my continued use of his textbook in my own graduate classes." —James Alm, Tulane University

"Richard Tresch provides a wonderful graduate textbook that is difficult to top in terms of clarity and accessibility. It combines neat mathematical presentation with lots of intuition." —Alfons Weichenrieder, Goethe University Frankfurt

"The ideal graduate treatment of public economic theory. Tresch introduces a general equilibrium model and uses it to solve the classic problems. He then devotes the majority of the book to theoretically examining problems in the second best context, which is the training that students really need to apply theory to real world policy questions." —Stephen Ross, University of Connecticut

From the Publisher