As Congress searches for ways to generate savings, reduce the deficit, and fund federal programs, it has held hearings and passed legislation to prevent and recover improper payments. Improper payments are payments made in an incorrect amount, payments that should not have been made at all, or payments made to an ineligible recipient or for an ineligible purpose. The total amount of improper payments may be even higher than reported because several agencies have yet to determine improper payment amounts for many programs, including some with billions of dollars in annual expenditures. This book discusses the legislation, implementation and analysis of improper payments and recovery audits. The authors of this book also provide a testimony on the remaining challenges and strategies for government wide reduction efforts of improper payments, and a testimony on new steps to strengthen the integrity of federal payments.

This book explores why, despite increased government spending on income-support, health and education, the costs of public goods are rising and their quality is declining. Charting the rise of big government, the author identifies a growing divergence between public-sector ideals and the realities of troubled political economies grappling with debt, deficits, ageing populations, improvident social insurance, declining education test scores and multiplying health costs. Limited Government analyzes in detail the social and political factors in major economies that drive up public spending, as well as the relationship between spending and outcomes. By developing an alternate model of public finances, and engaging in a critique of the managerial society, the author emphasizes the positive effects of self-management, social self-organization and technological automation, arguing that high-quality, low-cost goods are the result of nations that save, not states that tax. A sociological account of public finances, Limited Government outlines how governments can spend less and yet help ensure good broad equitable standards of health, education and income security.

In this book, sociologists, philosophers, and economists investigate the conceptual issues around the performativity of economics over a variety of disciplinary contexts and provide new case studies illuminating this phenomenon. In featuring the latest contributions to the performativity debate the book revives discussion of the fundamental questions: What precise meaning can we attribute to the notion of performativity? What empirical evidence can help us recognize economics as performative? And what consequences does performativity have for contemporary societies? The contributions demonstrate how performativity can serve as a powerful conceptual resource in dealing with economic knowledge, as an inspiring framework for investigating performative practices, and as an engine of discovery for thinking of the economic proper.

In India, the external payments crisis of 1991, which led to the initiation of economic reforms, was the result of deteriorating fiscal situation during the latter half of 1980s. Fiscal imbalance was identified as the underlying cause of the twin problems of inflation and the difficult balance of payments position. Hence, fiscal consolidation constituted a major objective of the policy response. This consolidation was planned through reduction in the size of budget deficit and public debt in relation to the India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For this purpose, it became necessary to: (a) enhance tax and non-tax revenue, (b) curtail current expenditure growth, (c) restructure public sector undertakings, including disinvestment, (d) improve fiscal-monetary co-ordination, and (e) deregulate financial system. The need for improvements in budgetary practices led to the enactment of India's Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act 2003, which ushered the Indian economy into an era of fiscal consolidation based on fiscal policy rules. This book provides a vivid account and analysis of reforms in India's fiscal policy during the post-liberalization period (1991 onward).

In his foreword, Geoffrey Brennan states, "The papers in this volume represent a coherent set of pieces focused on aspects of public-expenditure theory and constitute all of Buchanan's papers in this area."

Buchanan's work on the subject of what governments should do and his insistence on Knut Wicksell's ideal that taxation and public expenditure be integrated topics have contributed significantly to the current thinking of most economists on the topic. Geoffrey Brennan summarizes Buchanan's central themes in this way, "There are two messages that emerge from this work: one is that a proper sense of the "extent" of market failure, rather than its mere "presence, " is relevant in all cases; the other is that 'correcting' for such market failure is often a complex multidimensional business not captured by direct public provision at zero price and not necessarily involving expansion of market output."

The twenty-nine papers represented in this volume are grouped into these major subject categories:
1.Public Services and Collective Action
2.Externalities
3.Clubs and Joint Supply
4.Public Goods Theory
5.Applications--City, Health, and Social Security
6.Distributive Norms and Collective Action

This volume also includes what are arguably Buchanan's two most famous articles: "Externality," which he wrote with William Stubblebine, and "Economic Theory of Clubs."

James M. Buchanan is an eminent economist who won the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1986 and is considered one of the greatest scholars of liberty in the twentieth century.

ERRATA
Unfortunately, after this book had been printed and bound, it was discovered that, due to a production error, the index contained some erroneous page numbers. Please click on the pdf file below to obtain the corrected index that should replace the index bound into the back of the book. When this volume goes back to press for a second printing, the index will be updated with the pages in this pdf file, and we will be pleased to send all buyers of the erroneous Volume 15 a corrected copy of the book at no extra charge.
Click here for a pdf file of the corrected index.
The entire series will include:
Volume 1 "The Logical Foundations of Constitutional Liberty"
Volume 2 "Public Principles of Public Debt "
Volume 3 "The Calculus of Consent "
Volume 4 "Public Finance in Democratic Process"
Volume 5 "The Demand and Supply of Public Goods"
Volume 6 "Cost and Choice"
Volume 7 "The Limits of Liberty"
Volume 8 "Democracy in Deficit"
Volume 9 "The Power to Tax"
Volume 10 "The Reason of Rules"
Volume 11 "Politics by Principle, Not Interest"
Volume 12 "Economic Inquiry and Its Logic"
Volume 13 "Politics as Public Choice"
Volume 14 "Debt and Taxes"
Volume 15 "Externalities and Public Expenditure Theory"
Volume 16 "Choice, Contract, and Constitutions"
Volume 17 "Moral Science and Moral Order"
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This book presents research on a kind of water use conflicts that is becoming more and more common and important: How to best manage moving water in times of increasing demand for electricity as well as environmental services. How should decisions be made between water use for electricity generation or for environmental and recreational benefits? The authors develop a simple general equilibrium model of a small open economy which is used to derive a cost-benefit rule that can be used to assess projects that divert water from electricity generation to recreational and other uses (or vice versa). The cost-benefit rule is then applied to the specific case of a proposed change at a Swedish hydropower plant. The book provides a manual for the evaluation of river regulations which can easily be replicated in other studies.

Since the opening of the Ottoman Archives, research on the history of the Ottoman Empire prior to 1800 has resulted primarily in the publication of individual financial and administrative records, sometimes with analysis. Dr. Shaw's study is the first effort to use all the available records concerning an individual province, synthesizing them into an exhaustive study of Egypt's administration under Ottoman rule, from its conquest in 1517 until the French invasion of Egypt in 1798. A unique work of scholarship, the book shows in detail the changes made over the centuries, and is based both on the local archives and on the Imperial Ottoman archives located in Istanbul. Originally published in 1962. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Most of the schools built in the United States, as well as many public facilities, must be financed by borrowing in the capital markets. Until recently, when strongly competing capital demands have interfered, the privilege of tax exemption has made state and local government borrowing relatively easy. Dr. Robinson has made an extensive study of the changing market value of tax exemption and of its effect on the yield of various securities. His analysis, which shows that the lessened value of tax exemption may well encourage administrative and financial reform in state and local governments, is of importance to finance authorities, institutional investors, and security analysts. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

There has been little analysis of the constitutional framework for management of the UK economy, either in constitutional law or regulatory studies. This is in contrast to many other countries where the concept of an 'economic constitution' is well established, as it is in the law of the European Union. Given the extensive role of the state in attempting to resolve recent financial crises in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, it is particularly important to develop such an analysis. This book sets out different meanings of an economic constitution, and applies them to key areas of economic management, including taxation and public borrowing, the management of public spending, (including the Spending Review), monetary policy, financial services regulation, industrial policy (including state shareholdings) and government contracting. It analyses the key institutions involved such as the Treasury and the Bank of England, also including a number of less well-known bodies such as the Office for Budget Responsibility. There is also coverage of the international context in which these institutions operate especially the European Union and the World Trade Organisation. It thus provides an account of the public law applying to economic management in the UK. This book also adopts a critical approach, assessing the degree to which there is coherence in the arrangements for economic management, the degree to which economic policy-making is constrained by constitutional norms, and the degree to which economic management is subject to deliberation and accountability through Parliament, the courts and other institutions.

Federal debt management, narrowly defined, concerns Treasury's decisions about sales of Treasury bills, notes and bonds, which affect the term structure of the privately held interest-bearing federal debt. Financial economists have different theories concerning the causes of the term structure of interest rates and the changes in the term structure over the business cycle. The four primary theories are the expectations theory, the risk averse theory, the segmented market theory and the preferred habitat theory. This book provides a broad overview of Treasury debt management and examines changes in debt sales implemented by the Clinton and Bush Administrations.

How should policy analysts assess 'benefit validity' when behavioral anomalies appear relevant? David L. Weimer provides thoughtful answers through practical guidelines. Behavioral economists have identified a number of situations in which people appear not to behave according to the neoclassical assumptions underpinning welfare economics and its application to the assessment of the efficiency of proposed public policies through cost-benefit analysis. This book introduces the concept of benefit validity as a criterion for estimating benefits from observed or stated preference studies, and provides practical guidelines to help analysts accommodate behavioral findings. It considers benefit validity in four areas: violations of expected utility theory, unexpectedly large differences between willingness to pay and willingness to accept, non-exponential discounting, and harmful addiction. In addition to its immediate value to practicing policy analysts, it helps behavioral economists identify issues where their research programs can make practical contributions to better policy analysis.

Over the past 40 years, many countries have replaced lower-denomination notes with coins as a means of providing a financial benefit to their governments. Replacing the $1 note with a $1 coin would provide a net benefit to the U.S. government of hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Most recently, in 2000, the Government Accountability Office estimated a net benefit to the government of about $522 million annually. Additionally, there have been several attempts to pass legislation that would place the likeness of President Reagan on U.S. coin or currency, as has been done with other deceased Presidents. This book examines the societal effects such replacements would have, as well as the history of the current design of circulating coins and currency and the statutory requirements for designs and portrait changes, and possible issues raised by legislation.

Since the end of the recession, the gross domestic product has grown slowly and unemployment has remained at a high level. While the economy is still recovering and in need of careful attention, there is widespread agreement on the need to look not only at the near term but also at steps that begin to change the long-term fiscal path as soon as possible without slowing the recovery. With the passage of time, the window to address the challenge narrows and the magnitude of the required changes grows. This book examines and identifies federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives which have duplicative goals or activities that may save tax dollars, enhance revenue and reduce the rapidly building fiscal pressures facing our national government.

Earmark disclosure rules in both the House and Senate were implemented with the stated intention of bringing more transparency to congressionally directed spending. The administrative responsibilities associated with these rules vary by chamber. This book outlines the major administrative responsibilities of Members and committees of the House of Representative and the Senate associated with the chamber's earmark disclosure rules.

Recently, the federal government has been recording the largest budget deficits, as a share of the economy, since the end of World War II. As a result of those deficits, the amount of federal debt held by the public has surged. At the end of 2008, that debt equalled 40 percent of the nation's annual economic output, as measured by GDP, a little above the 40 year average of 36 percent. Since then, large budget deficits have caused debt held by the public to shoot upward. As the economy recovers and the policies adopted to counteract the recession and the financial turmoil phase out, budget deficits will probably decline markedly in the next few years. But over the long term, the budget outlook is daunting. This book examines the long-term budget outlook with a focus on federal budget spending and revenue scenarios.

"States of Credit" provides the first comprehensive look at the joint development of representative assemblies and public borrowing in Europe during the medieval and early modern eras. In this pioneering book, David Stasavage argues that unique advances in political representation allowed certain European states to gain early and advantageous access to credit, but the emergence of an active form of political representation itself depended on two underlying factors: compact geography and a strong mercantile presence.

Stasavage shows that active representative assemblies were more likely to be sustained in geographically small polities. These assemblies, dominated by mercantile groups that lent to governments, were in turn more likely to preserve access to credit. Given these conditions, smaller European city-states, such as Genoa and Cologne, had an advantage over larger territorial states, including France and Castile, because mercantile elites structured political institutions in order to effectively monitor public credit. While creditor oversight of public funds became an asset for city-states in need of finance, Stasavage suggests that the long-run implications were more ambiguous. City-states with the best access to credit often had the most closed and oligarchic systems of representation, hindering their ability to accept new economic innovations. This eventually transformed certain city-states from economic dynamos into rentier republics.

Exploring the links between representation and debt in medieval and early modern Europe, "States of Credit" contributes to broad debates about state formation and Europe's economic rise.

This book explains the different measures of the U.S. government debt, discusses the historical growth in the debt, identifies the current owners of the debt, presents comparisons with government debt in other countries, and examines the potential economic risks associated with a growing federal debt.

Harrie de Swart is a Dutch logician and mathematician with a great and open int- est in applications of logic. After being confronted with Arrow's Theorem, Harrie became very interested in social choice theory. In 1986 he took the initiative to start up a group of Dutch scientists for the study of social choice theory. This initiative grew out to a research group and a series of colloquia, which were held approximately every month at the University of Tilburg in The Netherlands. The organization of the colloquia was in the hands of Harrie and under his guidance they became more and more internationally known. Many international scholars liked visiting the social choice colloquia in Tilburg and enjoyed giving one or more presentations about their work. They liked Harrie's kindness and hospitality, and the openness of the group for anything and everything in the eld of social choice. The Social Choice Theory Group started up by Harrie consisted, and still c- sists, of scholars from several disciplines; mostly economics, mathematics, and (mathematical) psychology. It was set up for the study of and discussion about anything that had to do with social choice theory including, and not in the least, the supervision of PhD students in the theory. Members of the group were, among o- ers, Thom Bezembinder (psychologist), Hans Peters (mathematician), Pieter Ruys (economist), Stef Tijs (mathematician and game theorist) and, of course, Harrie de Swart (logician and mathematician).

The nation's budget situation is challenging. In February 2009, the CBO projected that the deficit in 2009 will reach more than $1.4 trillion, which includes the deficit impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Between 2010 and 2019, cumulative deficits could reach as high as $10 trillion. These deficits are largely a result of federal financial intervention and fiscal stimulus legislation designed to alleviate the credit crunch and to bolster the economy. Current economic conditions have also led to increases in outlays for certain government social programs and declines in revenue collections, leading to further deterioration in the budget balance. This book explores and defines deficits and the appropriate ways to measure them and will also describe how current economic conditions and federal financial interventions have increased the deficit over time.