Modern Public Economics

by Raghbendra Jha

Overview

In recent times not only have traditional areas of public economics such as taxation, public expenditure, public sector pricing, benefit cost analysis, and fiscal federalism thrown up new challenges but entirely new areas of research and inquiry have emerged. This second edition builds upon the strengths of the previous edition and incorporates results of research on new areas such as global public goods, environmental taxation and carbon permits trading and the complexities of corporate taxation in a rapidly globalizing world.

The book is a modern and comprehensive exposition of public economics. It includes extended discussions on topics of particular interest to developing countries and covers subjects such as:

• taxation in an economy with a large informal sector
• the challenges of using VAT
• the use of randomized evaluation
• theory of public expenditure and public goods including global public goods
• incentive effects of taxation and tax incidence

This book discusses the major traditional areas of taxation and public expenditure as well as emerging issues relating to public economics in the globalized world economy. It will be useful as a reference and update on the modern literature on public economics for professional economists and policymakers, as well as providing invaluable information as a basic text for undergraduate and graduate students in public economics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135198817
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/19/2009
Series:	ISSN
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	648
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Raghbendra Jha is Rajiv Gandhi Chair Professor of Economics and Executive Director of Australia South Asia Research Centre, Australian National University.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Welfare Economics 1. A Quick Primer on Consumer Demand 2. Perfect Competition and Pareto Optimality 3. Forms of the Social Welfare Function 4. Arrow's General Possibility and Other Impossibility Theorems Part 2: The Theory of Public Expenditure 4. External Effects and the Market Mechanism 5. The Theory of Pure Public Goods 6. Topics in the Theory of Public Goods Part 3: The Theory of Taxation 7. The Effects of Taxes on Savings 8. Taxation and Labor Supply 9. The Effects of Taxes on Investment Behavior 10. Taxation and Risk-Taking 11. The Theory of Tax Incidence 12. Tax Incidence in Dynamic Models 13. Some Results in Commodity Taxation 14. Aspects of Income Taxation 15. Topics in the Theory of Taxation 16. Tax Reform Part 4: Applied Problems in Public Economics 17. Pricing in the Public Sector 18. International Aspects of Taxation 19. International Issues 20. Global Public Goods 21. Cost Benefit Analysis 22. Environmental Taxation Part 5: Fiscal Federalism 23. Issues in Fiscal Federalism 24. Grants and Taxes in Federal Countries

Editorial Reviews

Jha (economics, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Bombay, India) develops the foundations of public economics and explores research being done at the frontiers. Coverage includes classical theorems of welfare economics; the theory of public expenditure; the effects of taxation on savings, labor supply, investment and risk-taking; commodity, income and expenditure taxation; public sector pricing and cost-benefit analysis; and fiscal federalism. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

'This is a significant book. I am confident that it will rapidly gain pole position for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates.' - Professor P M Jackson, University of Leicester

'Professor Jha's Modern Public Economics is one of those rare feats - an accessible, wide-ranging and marvellously organized survey of the field for intermediate students and a precise down-to-earth manual for practioners.' - Prof. Edmund S. Phelps, Columbia University

'This is a clear, concise and well-written book on public economics – one of the best public economics textbooks I have read. The discussion of theoretical concepts in public economics is lucid and uncluttered; in his usual style, Professor Jha uses plenty of diagrams and intuition to complement the mathematical derivations. The inclusion of topics that are particularly germane to developing countries, such as taxation in an economy with a large informal sector and fiscal federalism, will make this a very appealing textbook in public economics for readers from developing countries. A very large section of the book is devoted to applied problems in public economics, including timely topics such as global public goods and the use of randomized evaluations in benefit-cost analysis. All in all, this is a must-read book for students and researchers interested in applied public economics and public policy, especially as it relates to developing countries.' - Professor Anil B. Deolalikar, University of California Riverside

From the Publisher