Building on his earlier Praeger work, "Contemporary EconomicS," Rich here examines current and historical, theoretical and practical, notions of welfare economics. Through an in-depth discussion of the theories of Edgeworth, Pareto, and Slutsky, the author analyzes how the present approach to welfare economics developed and how it has failed in significant ways to alleviate the problems of poverty and unemployment. Rich then develops a new theory of welfare economics based on the concept of dynamic disequilibrium and designed to respond to present-day economic and social realities. Scholars and students of both economics and public policy will find Rich's work a significant contribution to contemporary debates on welfare policy directions.

Divided into four parts, the volume begins by redefining the problem of welfare economics. In contrast to those who see the problem as simply the redistribution of income, Rich argues that the challenge today is to use our present economic system to absorb welfare recipients and make them productive members of the economy. He argues further that current approaches to the welfare situation are Keynesian and therefore relevant to a different era--that of the Great Depression. In subsequent chapters, Rich develops his theory of contemporary welfare economics, utilizing a welfare utility function and incorporating the components of government, industry, and labor. Designed to make the economy more efficient without the redistribution of income, Rich's proposals include making welfare payments contingent upon training and applying training to the needs of the business sector. Only by employing a theory more rooted in contemporary realities, Rich argues, can we ultimately remove the heavy burden of welfare so detrimental to large segments of society.

This book provides the reader with the basis for a theoretical understanding of public-sector finance in general - and more specifically, a comprehensive, policy-oriented application of that understanding to Japanese public finance. Particular emphasis is placed upon developing tools which can be used both theoretically and empirically to clarify essential economic concerns in Japan's public sector. These include the macroeconomic incidence of fiscal decentralization, dependence on government bonds for covering fiscal deficits, and social security reform. In analyzing Japan's underperforming public sector, the authors develop and recommend policy solutions aimed at achieving Japan's growth potential, improving the quality of the public sector, and strengthening the sector's contribution to the Japanese economy. Guiding the reader toward an overall understanding of public-sector reforms, decentralization and fiscal policy in Japan, this book will strongly appeal to academics, students and researchers with an interest in modern public finance theory and macroeconomic analysis.

This book offers a systematic guide to the allocation of American taxpayer dollars used to provide for the common defense. With engaging and illustrative examples like the narrative of a helicopter purchase, it reveals an unexpectedly chaotic political process that produces a conversely stable aggregate defense budget. The book explores specific attempts to control or influence these turbulent funding outcomes as Congress reviews the Presidential budget request. Containing data and sources largely unavailable to researchers without access to the Department of Defense, the book should be of interest to anyone looking for a direct, current, and methodical analysis of defense budget outcomes that preserves the informal and nuanced mechanics of a political and complicated process.

This book provides a thorough review of early English land taxes of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It is a polemical work which is critical of the institutional English state narratives including Brewer's 'Sinews of Power' and North and Weingast's 'credible commitment' and some established works in the field particularly Ward's 'The English Land Tax in the Eighteenth-Century' which is subject to a highly detailed critique. The book proposes that although this was a time of tension, with an English population divided by political and religious affiliations, unprecedented amounts of taxation were still collected. This was achieved by ceding immediate process ownership to local governors whilst arming them with clear success criteria, well-designed processes and innovative legislation targeted on a growing and commercialized economy. An important development was the state's increasing ability to coordinate tax-gathering activities across the country. This book will be of interest to financial historians, academics, and researchers.

Global developments in basic income have reinvigorated political debates on the necessity of progressing to universal basic income implementation. Basic income is a powerful strategy for addressing poverty gaps and growing inequality. This book provides new insights and strategies from an Australian political economy perspective to respond to implementation challenges and distributive justice. The book positions the disability dimension and disability pensions in relation to basic income to explore strategies for strengthening universal provisions. It illustrates the need for socially just conditions and adequate financing to underpin redistribution as a way of safeguarding the sustainability of basic income.

This contributed volume explores the political economy and socioeconomic aspects of the Greek Financial Crisis both within the country's borders and as part of the global economy. With chapters authored by international experts, this book examines and explicitly deals with specific and important issues that have been ignored by the dominant socioeconomic theory and practice, which have largely focused on the causes and broad economic consequences of the crisis. Discussions include the efficacy of new EU institutions created to address the crisis, the rise of unregistered economic activity, and comparisons with financial crises in countries beyond Europe. This diverse collection argues that the Greek Financial Crisis was not just an economic crisis, but a political and social crisis as well, one with repercussions beyond Europe.

Some of the best writings on public budgeting and finance can be found in the journals that ASPA publishes or sponsors. For this volume editor Irene Rubin has brought together the best of these articles - emerging classics that address the most important theoretical and practical problems underlying public budgeting.The anthology is organized topically rather than historically, with an effort to delineate the issues needed to understand some of the more recent controversies in the field. Rubin's introductory essay and section openers frame the key issues and provide historical context for each article. The collection begins with descriptions of what public budgeting is, where it comes from, and what it is for. It moves on to the relationship between budget processes and outcomes, constraints on budgeting, the legal context in which it operates, and adaptations to those constraints such as contracting out.The book concludes with a discussion of the ethics and norms that underlie budgeting in a democracy. Throughout the anthology, the emphasis is on areas of disagreement and debate, so students can get involved and explore different viewpoints.

The Economics of Budget Deficits provides a comprehensive overview of the scholarly literature exploring the causes and consequences of deficit spending and the public debt. Incorporating classical, Keynesian and public choice analyses of debt-financed public expenditures, the two volumes contain major theoretical and empirical contributions to the debate. They cover such critical fiscal policy issues as the history and measurement of budget deficits, the question of who bears the burden of the public debt, the use of deficits to solve problems of dynamic policy inconsistency and the relative effectiveness of fiscal rules and constitutional constraints as mechanisms for achieving budget balance. The editors provide an authoritative introduction to the two volumes and separate overviews of each of the seven parts. The Economics of Budget Deficits is an indispensable reference for all scholars and students interested in fiscal policy and for all policymakers.

This book explores the incentives and effects of modern welfare policy, contrasted with outcomes of global basic income pilots in the past seventy years. The author contends that paternalistic and counterproductive eligibility rules in the modern American welfare state violate the human dignity of the poor and make it nearly impossible to escape the "poverty trap." Furthermore, these types of restrictions are absent from expenditures aimed at middle and upper-income households such as mortgage interest deductions and tax-sheltered retirement accounts. Case examples from the author's years as a front-line social worker and interviews with basic income pilot recipients in Ontario, Canada, are woven throughout the book to better illustrate the effects of the current system and the hidden potential of more radical alternatives such as a universal basic income.

This book comprehensively presents the current practice and further development paths of public sector accounting, auditing and control systems in 7 South Eastern European countries based on the contributions of highly-respected researchers. Each chapter is a study of the territorial organisation, public sector scope, formulation and execution of central government and local and regional self-government budgets, accounting and financial reporting reforms and practice, audit and other oversight (supervision) in the public sector, and challenges in the further development of public sector accounting and auditing of each country. It also provides insights into the challenges that SEE countries are faced with as they move towards the adoption of accrual accounting and the implementation of IPSAS and/or EPSAS, and offers a valuable reference resource for academics, researchers, students, auditors, public administrators, policy makers and standard setters.

This book tackles political, social, and behavioural aspects of public finance and fiscal exchange. The book combines conventional approaches toward public finance with new developments in economics such as political governance, social and individual aspects of economic behaviour. It colligates public finance and behavioural economics and gathers original contributions within the emerging field of behavioural public finance. The book addresses public finance topics by incorporating political, social, and behavioural aspects of economic decision-making, assuming the tax relationship is shaped by three dimensions of decision-making. Thus, it aims not only to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of public finance by bringing together scholars from various disciplines but also to examine public finance through the lens of political, social, and behavioural aspects. The book scrutinizes the relationship between political institutions, governance types, and public finance; it investigates the impact of social context, social capital, and societal cooperation on public finance; it explores behavioural biases of individual fiscal preferences. This book is of interest to scholars, policymakers, tax professionals, business professionals, financers, university students, and researchers in the fields of public policy and economics.

This book examines claims that aging populations will create serious economic problems for various nations. It examines the question in large part through the eyes of researchers and legislators in three target countries: Australia, Japan, and the United States. These countries were chosen because of similar states of economic development and because all were experiencing a rapid aging of their populations. A comprehensive overview is provided of the economic issues related to aging populations. Several aspects are explored in more depth. To date, it is the most complete and thorough study of economic issues associated with population aging. After a brief review of the phenomenon of demographic aging, the authors give a summary of the major economic programs offered to the aged. Extensive research is used to evaluate the concept of dependency ratios and to predict the impact on younger and older persons of future economic and demographic growth. This discussion then provides the basis for a review of evolving retirement policies in the three countries. Special attention is given to the way pension plans have been designed, especially early and mandatory retirement policies. An assessment of the adequacy of retirement income follows. The final three chapters are devoted to policy options for the future, given trends in demographic aging. Social scientists and economists will be most interested in this study.

This book analyses several aspects of Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), a form of hybrid public-private partnership (PPP) for development of roads sector in India. The book covers contractual, financing, taxation and accounting aspects of the HAM based PPP projects in India and provides a complete multi-dimensional view for readers. It is a comprehensive guide for multiple stakeholders involved in the development of infrastructure projects in developing economies across globe. The book is authored by professionals having hands-on advisory experience for HAM PPP projects in India. Given that these are long-term concession agreements (around 15 years), there are inherent complications and the authors have tried to provide clarity on practical issues. The book adopts a novel case-study approach. Based on detailed financial and commercial assumptions for a road project in India, the authors have used around 100 numerical illustrations to provide a quantitative and qualitative understanding for readers. Another highlight of the book is use of international case-studies to provide key learnings in areas of project preparation and structuring for such hybrid PPP models. The risk allocation framework is also contrasted with the HAM PPP model to highlight the key differences. The international case studies have been selected from transport and water sector to illustrate the applicability of hybrid PPPs across multiple sectors to support sustainable infrastructure development. The target audience for this book include private sector developers, government agencies, deal practitioners, advisors, researchers and academia . This book will also serve as a useful guide for commercial lenders, development finance institutions (DFIs) and institutional investors who are looking to finance such infrastructure projects in the long term.

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a leading figure in the British classical school of economics, best-known for extending the insights of Adam Smith at a time of revolutionary improvements in agriculture and industry. This book explores the way in which he accounted for the tendency to overpopulation, the exhaustion of arable land and the deficiency of effective demand. Malthus relied on historical and empirical evidence in the spirit of Bacon and Hume, but also backed up his data with a priori hypotheses that link him to his contemporary, David Ricardo. Malthus was strongly in favour of free trade, the minimal State, the gold standard and the abolition of poverty relief. Always a pragmatist, however, he was just as much in favour of public education, contra-cyclical public works and a safety net of tariffs and bounties to encourage national self-sufficiency with regard to food. He was both an economist and a clergyman and saw the two roles as interconnected. Malthus believed that a benevolent Deity had created vice and misery in order to shake human beings out of their natural indolence that would otherwise have condemned them to still greater distress. This title provides a clear and comprehensive examination of Malthus's economic and social thought. It will be of interest to students and scholars alike.

The question of why citizens pay their taxes has attracted increased attention in the tax compliance literature of late. In this book, Benno Torgler considers the evidence that suggests that enforcement efforts cannot fully explain the high degree of tax compliance within society. To attempt to resolve this puzzle, numerous researchers have argued that citizens' attitudes towards paying taxes (defined as tax morale) help to explain the high degree of compliance. Yet most have treated tax morale itself as a black box, failing to discuss the issues influencing it. This unique volume provides important new insights into the factors that shape the emergence and maintenance of citizens' willingness to cooperate with tax legislations in different societies. Distinctive in its examination of citizen tax morale and tax compliance, this book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and students concerned with economics, political science, sociology, social psychology and accounting. It will also appeal to policymakers and practitioners.

In a multi-level government system institutional legacy and the assignment of roles and responsibilities between the federal and the subnational governments create imbalances. These imbalances in economic terms are a result of a mismatch between revenue-raising capacity and the spending responsibilities of the different levels of the government. Intergovernmental Transfers in Federations presents a synthesis of recent international experience of large federations in addressing the most fundamental issues of horizontal and vertical imbalances through the prism of intergovernmental transfers. It compares mature federal systems and the maturing federations of the world. Contributors delve into the various aspects of policymaking as well as policy choices in selecting an efficiency path for a meaningful fiscal devolution aimed at integrating performance and incentives to reach an expenditure mix that facilitates better service delivery. Chapters include empirical, theoretical and methodological contributions as well as case studies that illustrate important policy or methodological lessons for future work. This collection is essential reading for researchers, practitioners, policy makers and students wishing to understand the choices made by different countries in response to the overarching principles of needs, equity and efficiency for sharing of resources.

Rolf R. Strauch and Jiirgen von Hagen Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI), University of Bonn; ZEI, University of Bonn, Indiana University, and CEPR The large and persistent deficits, rising levels of debt and growing levels of public spending observed in many DECO economies during the past 25 years have stimulated much theoretical and empirical research on the political economy of public finance. Although a number of issues have been studied extensively, certain areas are still at an exploratory stage and need further theorizing and thorough empirical research. During the last two decades, the theoretical debate on budgeting has been dominated by the controversy between partisan and institutionalist approaches. Within the more political-science oriented, institutionalist literature, a controversy exists between the distributive and the informational perspectives, each setting forth a distinctive organizational rationale of parliaments with different fiscal implications. The papers in this volume cover these different perspectives, extend previous models, and test their empirical validity. The papers were originally written for a conference on "Institutions, Politics, and Fiscal Policy" organized by the Center for European Integration Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany, in July 1998. The book is organized in three parts each focusing on a distinctive aspect. The first part is dedicated to the partisan perspective. The second part focuses on budget institutions. The third part consists of three case studies of institutional reform of the budget process. This book is directed to academics and practitioners alike.

This monograph highlights the benefits of public-private partnerships (PPP) for Sub-Saharan Africa. By studying the intertwinement of mainstream and Islamic finance, the author shows how PPPs have emerged as a viable and efficient organizational vehicle for fair rules of economic cooperation where the trade-offs between profit maximization and social justice values required by Islamic finance occur within the organization. The book shows the assumptions under which such compromise is beneficial to all parties, including public entities, multicultural societies and private Islamic and conventional investors. It places particular emphasis on changing the principle of allocating public resources in the uncertain legal and economic environment of the region discussed. Given the cultural idiosyncrasies, political instability, and socio-economic turmoil but high development potential in Sub-Saharan Africa, PPPs with a heterodox approach may prove to be a game-changer in the region and a platform to find a compromise between the interests of various types of investors.

This book introduces the theory and practice of Chinese public budget reform, including the manner and implications of public budget reform, the role and status of central government and local governments in budget reform, as well as the latest achievements of China's local government public budget reform. The authors of this book are all researchers who have witnessed Chinese public budget reform.

Nick Mayhew has made key contributions to fields as diverse as medieval European monetary history, numismatics, financial history, price and wage history, and macroeconomic history. These essays, in his honour, demonstrate the analytical power and chronological reach of the novel interdisciplinary approach he has nurtured in himself and others.

This important new book brings together a significant body of new essays on some of the central economic problems facing governments, firms and individuals in the 1990s. Under the direction of Paul Davidson and Jan Kregel, an international group of distinguished economists provide new perspectives on key issues including employment, corporate and work place restructuring, economic growth and development, financial integration and transformation of the former command economies. Combining rigorous scholarly assessments of the issues with policy prescription, the contributors seek to provide solutions to the problem of providing full employment, to identify the factors determining the expansion of the economy, and to analyse the impact of financial markets, financial derivatives and international regulations on domestic and global economic performance. Employment, Growth and Finance will be welcomed by all those interested in the solutions to international economic problems being developed by post Keynesian economists.

This comprehensive guide covers absolutely everything to do with taxation in Britain. This edition has been fully updated to take account of the budget and the major changes introduced by the government, and has many helpful examples and tables. It is designed both for private individuals needing advice on self-assessment and tax saving, and for professionals needing to check the latest rules.

This book examines the role of government fiscal and non-fiscal incentives in spurring innovation and entrepreneurship in developed and developing economies. It explores and examines the role of government programs in different stages of firm growth pre-startup, startup, and scale-up. By developing a theoretical framework and reviewing international evidence, the book identifies the best combination of government incentives to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, and provides concrete policy recommendations for decision-makers. Some of the issues tackled in this book include national innovation policy, innovation support programs, effectiveness of the support, challenges associated with the programs, risk-sharing and partnerships for innovation. This book is of interest to academics, students, practitioners, policymakers, governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as other stakeholders who wants to be informed about the challenges, progress and current trend in stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship.

This three-volume collection - prepared by a leading scholar and practitioner - presents the subject through a collection of important published articles on the debt market. It focuses first on the classical bond market and moves on to a discussion of rational expectations, estimation and the term structure. This is followed by the modern theory of the term structure derived from modelling the stochastic movements of interest rates. The third section discusses implementation and related subtopics including taxation and the management of interest rate risk. The final section extends the discussion to corporate bonds and mortgages.