Taxation has long been the subject of study by both lawyers and economists - pre-dating the law and economics movement - but the gap in the understanding of one another's methodology appears to have widened over time. This important two-volume set aims to address this gap, presenting a selection of papers which have been carefully chosen by the editor not only for their application of economics to distinctly legal issues in the field of taxation, but also for their use of an economic analysis that is relevant and penetrable for lawyers and legal scholars. The collection begins with papers that explore the difference between economic and traditional legal approaches to tax problems. Volume I then focuses on commodity taxation, tax incidence and distribution, progressivity, income taxation, consumption and the choice of tax base. Volume II then turns to more procedural aspects of tax, such as the implementation of the tax base, administration and compliance (including tax shelters), the taxable unit and tax expenditures. This collection will provide an invaluable reference source for lawyers, economists and any student of tax law.

Originally published in 1961, "The Ideologies of Taxation" is a classic of taxation a long-unavailable volume that remains uniquely applicable today. Louis Eisenstein starts from the idea that the tax system in a democracy is shaped by competing factions, each seeking to minimize its burden. Because few people are convinced by appeals to self-interest, factions must give reasons, which are skillfully elaborated into systems of belief or ideologies.

Eisenstein s aim is to examine (and debunk) three major ideologies used to justify various reforms of the tax system. The ideology of ability holds that taxes should be apportioned based on ability to pay and that this is properly measured by income or wealth. The ideology of deterrents is concerned with high taxes on private enterprise low and flat taxes are desired lest the wealthy reduce their work efforts and savings. The ideology of equity is focused on equal treatment of similarly situated individuals. Eisenstein shows, with sharp wit and an instinct for the jugular, how each of these ideologies is plagued with contradictions, incompleteness, and, in some cases, self-serving claims.

In this volume, Stephen M. Gardiner and David A. Weisbach present arguments for and against the relevance of ethics to global climate policy. Gardiner argues that climate change is fundamentally an ethical issue, since it is an early instance of a distinctive challenge to ethical action (the perfect moral storm), and ethical concerns (such as with justice, rights, political legitimacy, community and humanity's relationship to nature) are at the heart of many of the decisions that need to be made. Consequently, climate policy that ignores ethics is at risk of "solving " the wrong problem, perhaps even to the extreme of endorsing forms of climate extortion. This is especially true of policy based on narrow forms of economic self-interest. By contrast, Weisbach argues that existing ethical theories are not well suited to addressing climate change. As applied to climate change, existing ethical theories suffer from internal logical problems and suggest infeasible strategies. Rather than following failed theories or waiting indefinitely for new and better ones, Weisbach argues that central motivation for climate policy is straightforward: it is in their common interest for people and nations to agree to policies that dramatically reduce emissions to prevent terrible harms.