Research Catalog

Title

Economics of the public sector / Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jay K. Rosengard.

Author

Stiglitz, Joseph E.

Publication

New York : W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., [2015]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Rosengard, Jay K.

Description

xxxii, 923 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Subjects

• Finance, Public > United States
• Fiscal policy > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 880 - 892) and index.

Contents

• Machine generated contents note: 1.Defining Public Sector Responsibilities -- The Economic Role of Government -- The Mixed Economy of the United States -- Different Perspectives on the Role of Government -- An Impetus for Government Action: Market Failures -- Achieving Balance between the Public and Private Sectors -- The Emerging Consensus -- Thinking Like a Public Sector Economist -- Analyzing the Public Sector -- Economic Models -- Case Study Musgrave's Three Branches -- Normative versus Positive Economics -- Disagreements among Economists -- Differences in Views on How the Economy Behaves -- Disagreement over Values -- Case Study Public Sector Economics and the Global Economic Crisis -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 2.Measuring Public Sector Size -- What or Who Is the Government? -- Types of Government Activity -- Providing a Legal System -- Government Production -- Government's Influence on Private Production --
• Note continued: Government Purchases of Goods and Services -- Government Redistribution of Income -- Overview of Government Expenditures -- Gauging the Size of the Public Sector -- Growth in Expenditures and Their Changing Composition -- Case Study Estimating the Full Budgetary and Economic Costs of War -- Comparison of Expenditures across Countries -- Government Revenues -- Taxes and the Constitution -- Federal Taxation Today -- State and Local Government Revenues -- Comparison of Taxation across Countries -- Deficit Financing -- Playing Tricks with the Data on Government Activities -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 3.Market Efficiency -- The Invisible Hand of Competitive Markets -- Welfare Economics and Pareto Efficiency -- Case Study On the Prowl for Pareto Improvements -- Pareto Efficiency and Individualism -- The Fundamental Theorems of Welfare Economics -- Efficiency from the Perspective of a Single Market --
• Note continued: Analyzing Economic Efficiency -- The Utility Possibilities Curve -- Exchange Efficiency -- Production Efficiency -- Product Mix Efficiency -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 4.Market Failure -- Property Rights and Contract Enforcement -- Case Study Property Rights and Market Failures: The Tragedy of the Commons Revisited -- Market Failures and the Role of Government -- 1.Failure of Competition -- 2.Public Goods -- 3.Externalities -- 4.Incomplete Markets -- Case Study Student Loans: Incomplete Reform of an Incomplete Market -- 5.Information Failures -- 6.Unemployment, Inflation, and Disequilibrium -- Interrelationships of Market Failures -- Case Study Market Failures: Explanations or Excuses? -- Redistribution and Merit Goods -- Two Perspectives on the Role of Government -- Normative Analysis -- Positive Analysis -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems --
• Note continued: 5.Public Goods And Publicly Provided Private Goods -- Public Goods -- Public Goods and Market Failures -- Paying for Public Goods -- The Free Rider Problem -- Case Study Economists and the Free Rider Problem -- Pure and Impure Public Goods -- Case Study Property Rights, Excludability, and Externalities -- Publicly Provided Private Goods -- Rationing Devices for Publicly Provided Private Goods -- Efficiency Conditions for Public Goods -- Demand Curves for Public Goods -- Pareto Efficiency and Income Distribution -- Limitations on Income Redistribution and the Efficient Supply of Public Goods -- Distortionary Taxation and the Efficient Supply of Public Goods -- Efficient Government as a Public Good -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- Appendix: The Leftover Curve -- 6.Externalities And The Environment -- The Problem of Externalities -- Private Solutions to Externalities -- Internalizing Externalities --
• Note continued: The Coase Theorem -- Using the Legal System -- Case Study The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill -- Failures of Private Solutions -- Public Sector Solutions to Externalities -- Case Study Double Dividend -- Market-Based Solutions -- Regulation -- Innovation -- Information Disclosure -- Compensation and Distribution -- Protecting the Environment: The Role of Government in Practice -- Air -- Water -- Land -- Concluding Remarks -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 7.Efficiency And Equity -- Efficiency and Distribution Trade-Offs -- Analyzing Social Choices -- Determining the Trade-Offs -- Evaluating the Trade-Offs -- Two Caveats -- Social Choices in Practice -- Measuring Benefits -- Ordinary and Compensated Demand Curves -- Consumer Surplus -- Measuring Aggregate Social Benefits -- Measuring Inefficiency -- Case Study Drawing a Poverty Line -- Quantifying Distributional Effects -- Case Study The Great Gatsby Curve --
• Note continued: Three Approaches to Social Choices -- The Compensation Principle -- Trade-Offs across Measures -- Weighted Net Benefits -- The Trade-Off between Efficiency and Fairness Revisited -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- Appendix: Alternative Measures of Inequality -- The Lorenz Curve -- The Dalton-Atkinson Measure -- 8.Public Production Of Goods And Services -- Natural Monopoly: Public Production of Private Goods -- The Basic Economics of Natural Monopoly -- Regulation and Taxation (Subsidies) -- No Government Intervention -- Government Failures -- Case Study Rent Control and Agricultural Price Supports: Case Studies in Government Failure -- Comparison of Efficiency in the Public and Private Sectors -- Case Study National Performance Review -- Sources of Inefficiency in the Public Sector -- Organizational Differences -- Individual Differences -- Bureaucratic Procedures and Risk Aversion -- Corporatization --
• Note continued: Case Study Privatizing Prisons -- A Growing Consensus on Government's Role in Production -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 9.Public Choice -- Public Mechanisms for Allocating Resources -- The Problem of Preference Revelation -- Individual Preferences for Public Goods -- The Problem of Aggregating Preferences -- Majority Voting and the Voting Paradox -- Arrow's Impossibility Theorem -- Single-Peaked Preferences and the Existence of a Majority Voting Equilibrium -- The Median Voter -- The Inefficiency of the Majority Voting Equilibrium -- The Two-Party System and the Median Voter -- Case Study Social Choice Theory -- Alternatives for Determining Public Goods Expenditures -- Lindahl Equilibrium -- Politics and Economics -- Why Do Individuals Vote? -- Elections and Special Interest Groups -- The Power of Special Interest Groups -- Other Aspects of the Political Process -- Case Study Campaign Finance Reform --
• Note continued: The Altruistic Politician? -- The Persistence of Inefficient Equilibrium -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- Appendix: New Preference-Revelation Mechanisms -- 10.Framework For Analysis Of Expenditure Policy -- Need for a Program -- Market Failures -- Case Study Higher Education in the United States -- Alternative Forms of Government Intervention -- The Importance of Particular Design Features -- Private Sector Responses to Government Programs -- Efficiency Consequences -- Income and Substitution Effects and Induced Inefficiency -- Distributional Consequences -- Evaluating the Distributional Consequences -- Case Study Incidence of Education Tax Credits -- Fairness and Distribution -- Equity-Efficiency Trade-Offs -- Public Policy Objectives -- Political Process -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 11.Evaluating Public Expenditure -- Private Cost-Benefit Analysis --
• Note continued: Present Discounted Value -- Social Cost-Benefit Analysis -- Consumer Surplus and the Decision to Undertake a Project -- Measuring Nonmonetized Costs and Benefits -- Valuing Time -- Valuing Life -- Case Study Children, Car Safety, and the Value of Life -- Valuing Natural Resources -- Shadow Prices and Market Prices -- Discount Rate for Social Cost-Benefit Analysis -- Case Study Climate Change and Discount Rates -- The Evaluation of Risk -- Risk Assessment -- Distributional Considerations -- Cost Effectiveness -- Post-Expenditure Evaluation: Assessing and Improving Government Performance -- Case Study Taking a Bite Out of Crime in the Big Apple -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 12.Defense, Research, And Technology -- Defense Expenditures -- The Value of Marginal Analysis -- Defense Strategy -- Case Study Game Theory, the Arms Race, and the Theory of Deterrence -- Case Study Converting Swords into Plowshares --
• Note continued: Increasing the Efficiency of the Defense Department -- Defense Procurement -- Defense Conversion -- Accounting and the Defense Department -- Research and Technology -- Market Failures -- Case Study The Scope of the Patent: Can the Human Body Be Patented? -- Government Direct Support -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 13.Health Care -- The Health Care System in the United States -- The Private Sector -- The Role of Government -- Other Expenditure Programs -- Tax Expenditures -- Rationale for a Role of Government in the Health Care Sector -- Imperfect Information -- Limited Competition -- Absence of Profit Motive -- Special Characteristics of the U.S. Market -- The Role of the Health Insurance Industry -- Case Study Medical Malpractice -- Insurance and Excessive Expenditures on Health Care -- Consequences of Inefficiencies in Health Care Markets -- Poverty, Incomplete Coverage, and the Role of Government --
• Note continued: Reforming Health Care -- Cost Containment -- Case Study Comprehensive Health Care Reform -- Extending Insurance Coverage -- Medicare Reform: Easing Long-Term Fiscal Strains -- Reforming Medicaid -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 14.Education -- The Structure of Education in the United States -- Federal Tax Subsidies to Private and Public Schools -- Why Is Education Publicly Provided and Publicly Financed? -- Is There a Market Failure? -- The Federal Role -- Issues and Controversies in Educational Policy -- Education Outcomes -- Do Expenditures Matter? -- School Vouchers: Choice and Competition -- Case Study Vouchers: The San Jose and Milwaukee Experiments -- School Decentralization -- Performance Standards: No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top -- Inequality -- Aid to Higher Education -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems --
• Note continued: Appendix: How Should Public Educational Funds Be Allocated? -- 15.Welfare Programs And The Redistribution Of Income -- A Brief Description of Major U.S. Welfare Programs -- AFDC and TANF -- Earned Income Tax Credit -- Food Stamps/SNAP -- Medicaid -- Housing -- Other Programs -- Rationale for Government Welfare Programs -- Dimensions of the Problem -- Analytic Issues -- Labor Supply -- Cash versus In-Kind Redistribution -- Inefficiencies from In-Kind Benefits -- Are In-Kind Benefits Paternalistic? -- Categorical versus Broad-Based Aid -- Is Means Testing Objectionable in Its Own Right? -- Other Distortions -- Case Study Conditional Cash Transfer Programs -- Welfare Reform: Integration of Programs -- The Welfare Reform Bill of 1996 -- Block Granting -- Analytics of State Responses to Block Grants -- Time Limits -- Mandatory Work -- The Welfare Reform Debate of 1996 -- Case Study The Person or the Place? -- Concluding Remarks -- Review and Practice --
• Note continued: Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 16.Social Insurance -- The Social Security System -- Social Security, Private Insurance, and Market Failures -- High Transactions Costs -- Risk Mitigation -- Lack of Indexing: The Inability of Private Markets to Insure Social Risks -- Adverse Selection, Differential Risks, and the Cost of Insurance -- Moral Hazard and Social Security -- Retirement Insurance as a Merit Good -- Social Security, Forced Savings, and Individual Choice -- Is There a Need to Reform Social Security? -- The Nature of the Fiscal Crisis -- Savings -- Labor Supply -- The Rate of Return -- Inequities -- Reforming Social Security -- Reducing Expenditures -- Increasing Revenues -- Structural Reforms -- Case Study Social Security Abroad -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 17.Introduction To Taxation -- Background -- Forms of Taxation -- Changing Patterns of Taxation in the United States --
• Note continued: Comparisons with Other Countries -- The Five Desirable Characteristics of Any Tax System -- Economic Efficiency -- Administrative Costs -- Case Study Corrective Taxes and the Double Dividend -- Flexibility -- Transparent Political Responsibility -- Fairness -- Case Study Corruption-Resistant Tax Systems -- General Framework for Choosing among Tax Systems -- Utilitarianism -- Rawlsian Social Welfare Function -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 18.Tax Incidence -- Tax Incidence in Competitive Markets -- Effect of Tax at the Level of a Firm -- Impact on Market Equilibrium -- Does It Matter Whether the Tax Is Levied on Consumers or on Producers? -- Case Study The Incidence of Government Benefits -- Ad Valorem versus Specific Taxes -- The Effect of Elasticity -- Taxation of Factors -- Case Study The Philadelphia Wage Tax -- Tax Incidence in Environments without Perfect Competition --
• Note continued: Relationship between the Change in the Price and the Tax -- Ad Valorem versus Specific Taxes -- Tax Incidence in Oligopolies -- Equivalent Taxes -- Income Tax and Value-Added Tax -- Equivalence of Consumption and Wage Taxes -- Equivalence of Lifetime Consumption and Lifetime Income Taxes -- A Caveat on Equivalence -- Other Factors Affecting Tax Incidence -- Tax Incidence under Partial and General Equilibrium -- Case Study Behavioral Economics, Managerial Capitalism, and Tax Incidence -- Short-Run versus Long-Run Effects -- Open versus Closed Economy -- Associated Policy Changes -- Case Study Tax Incidence of Specific Tax Provisions -- Incidence of Taxes in the United States -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- Appendix: Comparison of the Effects of an Ad Valorem and Specific Commodity Tax on a Monopolist -- 19.Taxation And Economic Efficiency -- Effect of Taxes Borne by Consumers --
• Note continued: Substitution and Income Effects -- Quantifying the Distortions -- Measuring Deadweight Loss Using Indifference Curves -- Measuring Deadweight Loss Using Compensated Demand Curves -- Calculating the Deadweight Loss -- Effect of Taxes Borne by Producers -- Effects of Taxes Borne Partly by Consumers, Partly by Producers -- Taxation of Savings -- Quantifying the Effects of an Interest Income Tax -- Taxation of Labor Income -- Effects of Progressive Taxation -- Case Study The 1993, 2001, and 2003 Tax Reforms -- Secondary Labor Force Participants -- Measuring the Effects of Taxes on Labor Supplied -- Statistical Techniques Using Market Data -- Experiments -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- Appendix: Measuring the Welfare Cost of User Fees -- 20.Optimal Taxation -- Two Fallacies of Optimal Taxation -- The Fallacy of Counting Distortions -- Misinterpretations of the Theory of the Second Best --
• Note continued: Optimal and Pareto Efficient Taxation -- Lump-Sum Taxes -- Why Impose Distortionary Taxes? -- Case Study Estimating the Optimal Tax Rate -- Case Study Rent Seeking, Inequality, and Optimal Taxation -- Designing an Income Tax System -- Why Does More Progressivity Imply More Deadweight Loss? -- A Diagrammatic Analysis of the Deadweight Loss of Progressive Taxation -- Choosing among Flat-Rate Tax Schedules -- Case Study The -- Tax Increase on Upper-Income Individuals: A Pareto Inefficient Tax? -- General Equilibrium Effects -- Case Study Flat-Rate Taxes Arrive on the Political Scene -- Differential Taxation -- Ramsey Taxes -- Differential Commodity Taxes in Advanced Countries with Progressive Income Taxes -- Interest Income Taxation and Commodity Taxation -- Taxes on Producers -- The Dependence of Optimal Tax Structure on the Set of Available Taxes -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems --
• Note continued: Appendix A: Deriving Ramsey Taxes on Commodities -- Appendix B: Derivation of Ramsey Formula for Linear Demand Schedule -- 21.Taxation Of Capital -- Should Capital Be Taxed? -- Relationship among Consumption Taxes, a Wage Tax, and Exempting Capital Income from Taxation -- Equity Issues -- Efficiency Arguments -- Administrative Problems -- Effects on Savings and Investment -- Effects of Reduced Savings in a Closed Economy -- The Distinction between Savings and Investment -- National Savings and Budget Neutrality -- Effects of Reduced Savings in an Open Economy -- Impact on Risk Taking -- Why Capital Taxation with Full Loss Deductibility May Increase Risk Taking -- Case Study Tax Incentives for Risk Taking -- Why Capital Taxation May Reduce Risk Taking -- Measuring Changes in Asset Values -- Capital Gains -- Case Study Equity and the Reduction in Capital Gains Taxes -- Depreciation -- Case Study Distortions from Depreciation -- Neutral Taxation --
• Note continued: Inflation -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 22.The Personal Income Tax -- Outline of the U.S. Income Tax -- Legislated versus Actual Tax Rates -- Case Study A Loophole in the Earned Income Tax Credit? -- Other Taxes -- Principles Behind the U.S. Income Tax -- The Income-Based Principle and the Haig-Simons Definition -- The Progressivity Principle -- The Family-Based Principle -- The Annual Measure of Income Principle -- Practical Problems in Implementing an Income Tax System -- Determining Income -- Timing -- Personal Deductions -- Deductions versus Credits -- Case Study Temporary Tax Changes -- Special Treatment of Capital Income -- Housing -- Savings for Retirement -- Interest on State and Municipal Bonds -- Capital Gains -- Concluding Remarks -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 23.The Corporation Income Tax -- The Basic Features of the Corporation Income Tax --
• Note continued: The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax and Its Effect on Efficiency -- The Corporation Income Tax as a Tax on Income from Capital in the Corporate Sector -- Shifting of the Corporate Tax in the Long Run -- The Corporation Tax for a Firm without Borrowing Constraints -- Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax with Credit-Constrained Firms -- The Corporation Tax as a Tax on Monopoly Profits -- Managerial Firms: An Alternative Perspective -- Depreciation -- Combined Effects of Individual and Corporate Income Tax -- Distributing Funds: The Basic Principles -- The Dividend Paradox -- Mergers, Acquisitions, and Share Repurchases -- Does the Corporate Tax Bias Firms toward Debt Finance? -- Distortions in Organizational Form Arising because Some Firms Do Not Have Taxable Income -- Are Corporations Tax Preferred? -- Calculating Effective Tax Rates -- The Corporation Tax as Economic Policy --
• Note continued: Case Study The Proposed Incremental Investment Tax Credit of 1993: An Idea before Its Time? -- Taxation of Multinationals -- Case Study Foreign Income and the Corporation Income Tax -- Should There Be a Corporation Income Tax? -- Why Is There a Corporate Income Tax at All? -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 24.A Student's Guide To Tax Avoidance -- Principles of Tax Avoidance -- Postponement of Taxes -- Shifting and Tax Arbitrage -- Case Study Shorting against the Box -- Tax Shelters -- Case Study The Economics of Tax Avoidance -- Who Gains from Tax Shelters -- Middle-Class Tax Shelters -- Tax Reform and Tax Avoidance -- The 1986 Tax Reform -- Minimum Tax on Individuals -- Subsequent Tax Acts -- Equity, Efficiency, and Tax Reform -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 25.Reform Of The Tax System -- Fairness -- Horizontal Equity Issues -- Vertical Equity -- Efficiency --
• Note continued: Case Study Marginal Tax Rates and the 1986 Tax Reform -- Base Broadening -- Interaction of Fairness and Efficiency Concerns -- Simplifying the Tax Code -- Assessing Complexity -- Increasing Compliance -- Reducing Tax Avoidance -- Reducing Administrative and Compliance Costs -- Sources of Complexity -- The 1986 Tax Reform -- Transition Issues and the Politics of Tax Reform -- Tax Reforms for the Twenty-First Century -- Reforms within the Current Framework -- Major New Reforms -- Case Study Ordinary Income versus Capital Gains -- Case Study IRAs and National Savings -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 26.Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations -- The Division of Responsibilities -- Other Interaction between the Federal Government and the State and Local Governments -- The Size of Financial Transfers -- Case Study Unfunded Mandates -- Principles of Fiscal Federalism -- National Public Goods versus Local Public Goods --
• Note continued: Case Study International Public Goods -- Do Local Communities Provide Local Public Goods Efficiently? -- Tiebout Hypothesis -- Market Failures -- Redistribution -- Other Arguments for Local Provision -- Production versus Finance -- Effectiveness of Federal Categorical Aid to Local Communities -- The Federal Tax System and Local Expenditures -- Concluding Remarks -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 27.Subnational Taxes And Expenditures -- Tax Incidence Applied to Local Public Finance -- Local Capital Taxes -- Property Tax -- Case Study The U.S. Property Tax Revolt -- Income, Wage, and Sales Taxes -- Distortions -- Limitations on the Ability to Redistribute Income -- Rent Control -- Capitalization -- Incentives for Pension Schemes -- Choice of Debt versus Tax Financing -- Short-Run versus Long-Run Capitalization -- Who Benefits From Local Public Goods? The Capitalization Hypothesis --
• Note continued: Absolute versus Relative Capitalization -- The Use of Changes in Land Rents to Measure Benefits -- Testing the Capitalization Hypothesis -- Public Choice at the Local Level -- Problems of Multijurisdictional Taxation -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems -- 28.Fiscal Deficits And Government Debt -- The U.S. Deficit Problem since the 1980s -- Sources of the Deficit Problem -- Factors Not Contributing to the Deficit Problem -- Success in Taming the Deficit: The Experience of the 1990s -- Case Study Measuring Budget Deficits: What's Large, What's Real, and What's Right? -- Consequences of Government Deficits -- How Deficits Affect Future Generations When the Economy Is at Full Employment -- Alternative Perspectives on the Burden of the Debt -- Case Study Austerity in a Recession: Expansionary or Contractionary? -- Improving the Budgetary Process -- Budget Enforcement Act and Scoring -- Capital Budgets --
• Note continued: Other Strategies -- The Long-Term Problem: Entitlements and the Aged -- Review and Practice -- Summary -- Key Concepts -- Questions and Problems.

ISBN

• 9780393925227 (pbk.)
• 0393925226 (pbk.)
• 9780393937091
• 0393937097

LCCN

99963842275

OCLC

• ocn909815898
• 909815898
• SCSB-9398924

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries