Underfunded pension liabilities threaten the fiscal stability of many cities. While Detroit's bankruptcy has dominated the headlines, the problem is widespread. With ongoing battles in many localities, policymakers are increasingly turning their attention to the legacy issues surrounding the funding of pensions. Public Pensions and City Solvency addresses this complex fiscal challenge and presents strategies to achieve financial sustainability. Writing in a direct, readable style for a professional as well as an academic audience, expert contributors provide incisive analyses and practical approaches to navigating the fiscal morass in which many cities find themselves. Richard Ravitch, former lieutenant governor of New York, writes the Foreword and Robert P. Inman and Susan M. Wachter provide the Conclusion. The book's three chapters examine the issue from different key perspectives: Joshua D. Rauh, a leading scholar in the study of unfunded pension liabilities, provides an economist's perspective; Amy B. Monahan, a renowned authority in public employee benefits law, illuminates the legal framework; and D. Roderick Kiewiet and Mathew D. McCubbins, visionary political scientists, put the crisis and its economic and legal implications into context and lay out the necessary framework for reform. The problems that arise from underfunded public pensions are only going to escalate. Public Pensions and City Solvency is a unique resource for decision-makers, policy-makers, and researchers and a timely addition to the evolving debate over what constitutes sustainable solutions. Contributors: Robert P. Inman, D. Roderick Kiewiet, Mathew D. McCubbins, Amy B. Monahan, Joshua D. Rauh, Richard Ravitch, Susan M. Wachter.

Since the mid-1990s, sustainability of large and persistent current account positions have been attracting much attention from policy makers and economists alike. Alongside global imbalances, sustainability of imbalances within the euro area, which started widening shortly after the introduction of the euro, raised much concern. While there exists a large body of theoretical and empirical literature on sustainability of external imbalances, a systematic survey has been lacking so far. Angelique Herzberg fills this gap by examining a broad range of established sustainability measures concerning their applicability to the various global and intra-euro imbalances of the recent past. Furthermore, the author examines the existence of feedback effects from an economys net international investment position to its trade balance.

The public debt crisis that Eurozone countries have experienced since 2010 has been accompanied by a resurgence of sovereign risk. Greece was obliged to restructure its debt in 2012. The credit position of even the wealthy countries is shakier than at any time since the Great Depression. Now more than ever it is essential to understand sovereign risk because the default of a country, or even its lack of credibility, is bound to jeopardize political stability and weaken the credit standing of all other economic actors. This book reviews and analyzes the different means used to forestall and protect against sovereign defaults. In light of the Eurozone's 2010-2012 sovereign debt crisis, this book also emphasizes the roots of sovereign creditworthiness. Chapter 1 establishes a typology of sovereign defaults. A sovereign "bankruptcy" may take many forms (debt repudiation, moratorium, restructuring, etc.). Chapter 2 presents the different contractual and legal tools used to protect against sovereign defaults. Chapter 3 investigates how some investors have been able to interfere with the debtor's economic policy by insisting that measures be taken to reduce the risk of default in the short and medium term. Such interference can be direct or may be more subtle. There is a specific focus on the conditionality imposed by the International Monetary Fund. Chapter 4 studies the various tools that investors can use to discriminate among borrowers and forecast debt crises (bond yields and spreads as well as ratings provided by Fitch, Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Euromoney Country Risk). Chapter 4 also demonstrates that sovereign debtors must overcome seven types of risk in order to preserve their creditworthiness: natural disaster, geopolitical risk, institutional and political risk, economic risk, monetary and exchange rate risk, fiscal and tax-system risk, and debt-related risk.

The author indicates that war expenditures have been the most important single cause of the increase in the federal debt, with government countercyclical expenditures second. Increase in state and local debts is found to be largely due to the technological revolution. Originally published in 1961. 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.

Globalization is triggering a 'revenue shock' in developing economies. International trade taxes - once the primary source of government revenue - have been cut drastically in response to trade liberalization. Bastiaens and Rudra make the novel argument that regime type is a major determinant of revenue-raising capacity once free trade policies have been adopted. Specifically, policymakers in democracies confront greater challenges than their authoritarian counterparts when implementing tax reforms to offset liberalization's revenue shocks. The repercussions are significant: while the poor bear the brunt of this revenue shortfall in democracies, authoritarian regimes are better-off overall. Paradoxically, then, citizens of democracies suffer precisely because their freer political culture constrains governmental ability to tax and redistribute under globalization. This important contribution on the battle between open societies and the ability of governments to help their people prosper under globalization is essential reading for students and scholars of political economy, development studies and comparative politics.

The taxation of multinational corporate groups has become a major concern in the academic and political debate on the future of international taxation. In particular the arm's length standard for the determination of transfer prices is under increasing pressure.
Many countries and international bodies are now taking a closer look at the use of transfer prices for profit shifting and are exploring alternative mechanisms such as formulary apportionment for the allocation of taxing rights.
With regard to this topic, this volume is the first to offer a concise analysis of transfer pricing in the international tax arena from an interdisciplinary legal and economic point of view. Fundamentals such as the efficient allocation of resources within multi-unit firms and distortions between different goals of transfer pricing as well as different aspects of it in tax and corporate law, the traditional OECD approach and practical aspects concerning intangibles, capital and risk allocation are covered by outstanding authors.

In mid-2009 Simeon Djankov, who had dealt with a variety of economic and financial crises as chief economist for finance and private sector development at the World Bank, was suddenly thrust into the job of finance minister of his native Bulgaria. For nearly four years in that post, he attended more than 40 meetings of European finance ministers and had a front row seat at the intense discussions and struggles to overcome the economic and financial crisis that threatened to unravel the historic undertaking of an economically integrated Europe.In this personal account, Djankov details his odyssey on the front lines, observing Europe's fitful efforts to contain crises in Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, and France. He tells the inside story of how the European Central Bank assumed responsibility for the crisis, pledging to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro area. This candid book recounts the disagreements over fiscal austerity, monetary policy, and banking supervision, while focusing on the personalities who promoted progress-and those who opposed it. He also tells the dramatic story of the events that led to his own resignation as finance minister in 2013 over the policies he was pursuing to spare Bulgaria from getting sucked into the crisis.

The German health care system is on a collision course with budget realities. Costs are high and rising, and quality problems are becoming ever more apparent. Decades of reforms have produced little change to these troubling trends. Why has Germany failed to solve these cost and quality problems? The reason is that Germany has not set value for patients as the overarching goal, defined as the patient health outcomes achieved per euro expended. This book lays out an action agenda to move Germany to a high value system: care must be reorganized around patients and their medical conditions, providers must compete around the outcomes they achieve, health plans must take an active role in improving subscriber health, and payment must shift to models that reward excellent providers. Also, private insurance must be integrated in the risk-pooling system. These steps are practical and achievable, as numerous examples in the book demonstrate. Moving to a value-based health care system is the only way for Germany to continue to ensure access to excellent health care for everyone.

Dem Sport werden zahlreiche Gemeinwohlfunktionen zugeschrieben. Aus diesem Grund wird er mit öffentlichen Mitteln gefördert. In welchem Umfang der Sport in Deutschland auf diese Weise gefördert wird und insbesondere welche Mittel aus dem Sport wieder an die öffentlichen Haushalte zurückfließen, war bislang unklar. Auf Basis einer Vielzahl von Datenquellen werden in diesem Beitrag die sportbezogenen direkten Einnahmen und Ausgaben der öffentlichen Haushalte systematisch abgeschätzt. So ergibt sich – je nach Abgrenzung des Sportsektors – ein differenziertes Bild der finanzpolitischen Bedeutung des Sports in Deutschland.

In the "Handbook of Public Economics, vol. 5, " top scholars provide context and order to new research about mechanisms that underlie both public finance theories and applications. These fundamental subjects follow the recent, steady movement away from rational decision-making and toward more personalized approaches to tax generation and expenditure, especially in terms of the use of psychological methods and financial incentives. Closely scrutinized subjects include new research in empirical (instead of theoretical) public finance, the methods for measuring taxes (both in revenue generation and expenditure), and the roles that taxes play in specific settings, such as emerging economies, urban settings, charitable giving, and among political entities (cities, counties, states, countries). Contributors look at both the "tax" and "expenditure" sides of public finance, emphasizing recent influences that psychology and philosophy have exerted in economics with articles on behavioral finance, charitable giving, and dynamic taxation. To a field enjoying rapid growth, their articles bring context and order, illuminating the mechanisms that underlie both public finance theories and applications.
Editor Raj Chetty is the recipient of the 2013 John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic AssociationFocuses on new approaches to both revenue generation and expenditures in public financePresents coherent summaries of subjects in public economics that stretch from methodologies to applicationsMakes details about public economics accessible to scholars in fields outside economics

The Greek economic crisis has imperilled the stability of the eurozone, generating much global anxiety. Policymakers, analysts, and the media have daily debated the course of the Greek economy, prescribing ways to move forward. This collection of essays progressively moves from an analysis of the causes of the crisis and the policy responses so far to a debate on some of the country s advantages and capabilities that should underpin its new development model and propel the return to growth. The book analytically chooses to view the glass as half-full and seeks to provide motivation and inspiration for change by indicating some of the economic sectors where Greece maintains a comparative advantage. Therefore, it challenges the emerging picture of Greece as a country doomed to failure, where everything falls apart.

CONTENTS: Urban Public Finance; An Introduction; Trends in Municipal Finances in India; The Impact of Municipal Finance & Governance on Urban Sprawl; Financing Urban Infrastructure: Innovative Financial Instruments for Cities; Unconventional Methods of Financing Urban Development: The Role of Public-Private Partnership (PPP); Expanding Local Government Resources for Capital Projects through Municipal Borrowing & other Market-Based Financing; Local Government Finance in India: Trends & Patterns of Select Municipal Corporations; Innovative Financing of Urban Infrastructure in India through Market-based Financing & Public-Private Partnership; Public Finance Challenges for Chinese Urban Development; Local Revenue Mobilization in Urban Settings in Africa.

Cigarettes are under political attack at all_levels of government in the United States. From Washington, D. C. to state capitals to local govern ments, proposals abound to increase the cigarette excise tax, to impose smoking bans, to prevent cigarette advertising, to restrict the sale of cigarettes through vending machines, to cut off the export of cigarettes, to earmark the cigarette excise tax for health programs, to divest the stock of cigarette companies, and so on. And all of these are purportedly being advocated in the name of health. Undergirding and abetting the health argument is an economic argument that claims to place a value of up to $100 billion per year on the alleged health costs of smoking to the American economy, which is more than $3 per pack of cigarettes smoked. As our title suggests, our interest lies in the economics of smoking and not in the health issues surrounding smoking. We are professional economists and not medical scientists. We will focus on what, if any, economic consequences arise for nonsmokers when smokers smoke. For purposes of our discussion, we simply accept the premise that smoking damages health and proceed with our analysis. Since we have not studied the issue ourselves, we have no way of knowing whether such a premise is true. But it really does not matter for getting the economics of smoking right. The important point resides in who pays for whatever to smoking."

Evidence-Based Health Care Management introduces the principles and methods for drawing sound causal inferences in research on health services management. The emphasis is on the application of structural equation modeling techniques and other analytical methods to develop causal models in health care management. Topics include causality, theoretical model building, and model verification. Multivariate modeling approaches and their applications in health care management are illustrated. The primary goals of the book are to present advanced principles of health services management research and to familiarize students with the multivariate analytic methods and procedures now in use in scientific research on health care management. The hope is to help health care managers become better equipped to use causal modeling techniques for problem solving and decision making. Evidence-based knowledge is derived from scientific replication and verification of facts. Used consistently and appropriately, it enables a health care manager to improve organizational performance. Causal inference in health care management is a highly feasible approach to establishing evidence-based knowledge that can help navigate an organization to high performance. This book introduces the principles and methods for drawing causal inferences in research on health services management.

Contributors discuss the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) and Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) as a model both for resource policy and for social policy. This book explores whether other states, nations, or regions would benefit from an Alaskan-style dividend. The book also looks at possible ways that the model might be altered and improved.

This edited volume takes a closer look at various European pension-plan models and the recent challenges, trends and predictions related to the design of such schemes. The contributors analyse new ideas, both from national governments and European institutions, and consider current debates on topics such as the Capital Markets Union (CMU) and the so-called 'European Pillar of Social Rights' - calling for a new approach to social policy at the European level in response to common challenges, such as ageing and the digital revolution.This interdisciplinary work embraces economic, financial and legal perspectives, while focusing on previously selected coherence aspects in order to ensure that the analyses are comprehensive and globally consistent.

A complete and accessible explanation of the factors contributing to the onset of the 2007 financial and economic crisis. The myriad factors are explained in an orderly way with simple terms. The anticipation (or not) and reception of the crisis by mainstream economists and by Austrian economics leads to reflection on the state of economic theory.

Increasingly flexible labour markets and reforms of old-age pension systems are still ranking high on the political agenda of European countries. This volume investigates whether, and to what extent, the interplay between pension reforms and the spread of 'atypical' employment patterns and fragmented careers has a negative influence uponeconomic security in old age. The volume, therefore, analyzes the flexibility-security nexus by focusing on the post-retirement phase, thus extending the conventional narrow concept of 'flexicurity'. The book also questions whetherreforms of public and private pension schemes compensate or aggravate the risks of increasingly flexible labor markets and atypical employment careers after retirement? Around this overarching research question, the various contributions in the volume employ the same analytical framework in order to map, and then compare, the developments in seven European countries - Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK which present different labour market arrangements and various degrees of flexibility, as well as diverse pension systems.

As a collection of alternative views on societies, methodologies, policies and assessment of the current elements of the society, Alternative Perspectives on a Good Society brings together different authors answering different questions all within the context of visions of a good society.

Endowed with the authority to enforce justice, government is a necessary prerequisite to human flourishing. Citizens rightfully bear the responsibility to contribute to the existence of just government through the rendering of taxes. Because tax policy is also a reflection of values, citizens in a democratic society should be concerned with how taxes are collected and spent. In Real Tax Burden: More than Dollars and Cents, Alan Viard and Alex Brill explain everything you need to know to understand taxes in America today. The authors describe who pays what and why, the implications of the current system, and provide a vision for reform that is simple, effective, and consistent with our values.

"Public Principles of Public Debt" is one of James M. Buchanan's most important and influential books. The radical idea he conceived was that: our reliance on public debt has amassed a sort of orthodoxy that is commonly--and needlessly--assumed by taxpayers, by politicians, and by economists themselves.
Buchanan dismisses the nearly universal belief (which continues to this day) that the burden of debt is borne by the current generation, and he argues persuasively that public debt is shouldered in large part by generations still to come.
Written in 1958, this book represents Buchanan's first published monograph, and its publication met with much controversy, confusion, and speculation in the economic community. But the book also added to Buchanan's rising stature in the early part of his career as a brilliant and original thinker.
The arguments Buchanan lays out in this book had a considerable impact on much of his later work. Buchanan's object here is to establish a set of analytical claims about debt incidence. Current anxieties over implicit Social Security debt are clear indications of the rightness of Buchanan's then-revolutionary theory.
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.
The entire series includes: 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"
Volume 18 "Federalism, Liberty, and the Law"
Volume 19 "Ideas, Persons, and Events"
Volume 20 "Indexes"

This edited collection explores the historical determinants of the rise of mass schooling and human capital accumulation based on a global, long-run perspective, focusing on a variety of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The authors analyze the increasing importance attached to globalization as a factor in how social, institutional and economic change shapes national and regional educational trends. Although recent research in economic history has increasingly devoted more attention to global forces in shaping the institutions and fortunes of different world regions, the link and contrast between national education policies and the forces of globalization remains largely under-researched within the field. The globalization of the world economy, starting in the nineteenth century, brought about important changes that affected school policy itself, as well as the process of long-term human capital accumulation. Large migrations prompted brain drain and gain across countries, alongside rapid transformations in the sectoral composition of the economy and demand for skills. Ideas on education and schooling circulated more easily, bringing about relevant changes in public policy, while the changing political voice of winners and losers from globalization determined the path followed by public choice. Similarly, religion and the spread of missions came to play a crucial role for the rise of schooling globally.

Why Democracy Needs Public Goods presents a new theoretical perspective on public goods based on a framework of political philosophy. Angela Kallhoff responds to negative narratives on public goods that point out their role in causing market failures, their cost on public finance and in regulation, and their irregular and sometimes negative effects on social interaction. She instead provides a normative approach arguing for their role in supporting democracies at critical points by providing the basis for a public forum through public space and infrastructure, improving social inclusion through public healthcare and education, and fostering a sense of national identity. This book also features a comprehensive description of other arguments and theoretical approaches to public goods, as well as assessing the classical economic approach of collective action theory and counter arguments from the so-called libertarian camp. Kallhoff also analyzes the problems of regulatory frameworks and the normative issues resulting from the need to support by means of public finance. These perspectives will be most significant to political philosophers and policymakers, though the language used and the examples given will make Kallhoff's arguments comprehensible to non-experts as well.

Governments confront difficult political choices when they must determine how to balance their spending. But what would happen if a government found a means of spending without taxation? In this book, Gene Park demonstrates how the Japanese government established and mobilized an enormous off-budget spending system, the Fiscal Investment Loan Program (FILP), which drew on postal savings, public pensions, and other funds to pay for its priorities and reduce demands on the budget.
Park's book argues that this system underwrote a distinctive postwar political bargain, one that eschewed the rise of the welfare state and Keynesianism, but that also came with long-term political and economic costs that continue to this day. By drawing attention to FILP, this study resolves key debates in Japanese politics and also makes a larger point about public finance, demonstrating that governments can finance their activities not only through taxes but also through financial mechanisms to allocate credit and investment. Such "policy finance" is an important but often overlooked form of public finance that can change the political calculus of government fiscal choices.

In June 2010 IE Business School, with King Abdulaziz University, gathered in Madrid some of the world's foremost scholars, academics and practitioners of Islamic Economics and Finance. These highlights of the symposium and original articles specifically address the post-crisis application of this growing and relevant economic philosophy in Europe.