Public Finance: A Normative Theory

Public Finance remains the premier textbook on the normative theory of government policy, with the third edition propelling into the twenty-first century its examination of what government ought to be doing instead of what it is doing.

The welfare aspects of public economics receive extensively renewed examination in this third edition. With four new chapters and other significant revisions, it presents detailed and comprehensive coverage of theoretical literature, empirical work, environmental issues, social insurance, behavioral economics, and international tax issues. With increased emphasis on the European Union, it is rigid enough for use by PhDs while being accessible to students less well trained in math.

• Moves skillfully from explaining normative theory to applying it in mathematically compact and precise terms
• Adds new chapters on social insurance, medical care, social security pensions, behavioral public economics, and international public finance
• Includes new pedagogical supplements, including end-of-chapter questions and answers
• Emphasizes European examples