Public Sector Economics

A text designed for intermediate students of public sector economics and public finance, illustrating the links between the public and private sector using a microeconomic approach. Revised and updated, it discusses new theoretical advances, empirical data and changes in taxation laws.

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Over the past ten years there has been a significant ideological shift against the public sectors of most industrial economies, accompanied by political demands for changes in policies to "roll back the frontiers of the state". This book aims to show students the links that exist between the public and private sector using a microeconomic approach. The book is thoroughly revised and updated to take into account new theoretical advances, empirical data, reforms in the control of government expenditure, changes in taxation and the distribution of income and wealth that have resulted from political pressures. The authors include a new extended analysis on the public expenditure side to incorporate a game theoretical approach in public sector existence, a presentation of the "poll tax", an analysis of the 1988 reforms to the Social Security Act and the changes that we will see in indirect taxation (VAT) as we prepare for the Single European Market in 1992.