Peasants versus City-Dwellers: Taxation and the Burden of Economic Development

by Raaj K. Sah, Joseph E. Stiglitz

Overview

In this book Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and co-author Raaj Sah address one of development's major issues. During the early phases of economic development, there are often serious conflicts between the interests of town and country. The Corn Law Debate in England, the economic conflicts between the North and the South prior to the US Civil War, and the Soviet Industrialization Debate are among the historical examples. Most of today's countries face town versus country tensions of increasing severity, including such issues as who should pay how much in taxes, who should get how much in subsidies, and what forms the taxes and subsidies should take. This volume analyses these tensions and issues, taking into account the great diversity of institutions and economic environments observed in different developing countries. While dealing primarily with today's developing countries, the book also sheds some new light on some of the historical controversies. Each chapter contains a non-technical statement of the problems at hand and a summary of the analysis. The book will be of interest to public finance economists, and practitioners and researchers of economic development, as well as to economic historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191521454
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	12/03/1992
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Raaj K. Sah is Professor of Public Policy, University of Chicago. Joseph E. Stiglitz is Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001.

Table of Contents

I. An Introduction to Issues and Methodology1. Introduction2. The Objectives and Instruments of Government Policy and the Structure of the Economy in LDCs3. An Approach to Applied Welfare EconomicsII. Inter-Sectoral Taxation Policies4. Rural—Urban Prices in Open Economies5. The Price Scissors in Open Economies6. The Price Scissors in Closed and Partially Closed Socialist Economies7. The Soviet Industrialization Debate and CollectivizationIII. The Rural Sector8. Income Distribution and Alternative Organizational Forms within the Rural Sector9. Taxes and Subsidies on Different Goods in the Rural SectorIV. The Urban Sector10. The Impact of Urban Wag and Employment Determination on Taxation Policies11. Some Aspects of the Wage-Productivity Hypothesis that are Relevant for Taxation Analysis12. Taxes and Subsidies on Different Goods in the Urban Sector13. Tax Policy in the Presence of Migration and Urban Unemployment14. Taxation in the Urban Sector: Some Aspects of the Underlying Model15. The Social Cost of Labour16. Concluding Remarks