The Economics of Public Spending

The Economics of Public Spending investigates the extent of government involvement in the economy, details its rational, and traces its historical record. The book unites articles previously published in Fiscal Studies, each one addressing a different area of expenditure and written by aneconomist specializing in that field. They describe both the data on public expenditure and the theory relevant to understanding the policy issues. A new introduction investigates the overall role of the public sector and discusses the general theory of public expenditure.In providing a detailed analysis of public expenditure, the book makes an important contribution to the economics literature. There are no other texts with this breadth of coverage or depth of analysis. Insights are provided into both the policy issues, cross-country comparisons of expenditure, andalternative approaches to economic analysis. The chapters apply the tools of orthodox public finance, public choice, modern public economics, and game theory to reach a range of policy proposals and conclusions. These demonstrate the range and potential of economic analysis when applied to theseimportant issues.

David Miles is Professor of Finance at Imperial College, University of London. He is also an economic consultant to Merrill Lynch. He specializes in research on financial markets. Miles worked for the Bank of England for several years after graduating from Oxford. After a spell in the economics department at Birkbeck College, he was Chief UK Economist for Merrill Lynch. He joined Imperial College in 1996. He has published widely on many aspects of finance and macroeconomics. Gareth Myles is Professor of Economics at the University of Exeter and a Research Fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He specializes in research on public economics. Myles worked at the University of Warwick for five years after completing his D.Phil. at Oxford, and joined Exeter in 1992. He holds editorial positions with Fiscal Studies, the Journal of Public Economic Theory, and the Review of Economic Studies, and has published widely on many aspects of public economics and microeconomics. Ian Preston is a Reader in Economics at University College London, which he joined in 1991 after a Research Fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford. He is also a Research Fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. His research interests are in applied microeconomics with particular focus on household behaviour and public policy. He has been editor of Fiscal Studies and currently edits the Economic Journal Conference Volume.