Intermediate Public Economics, second edition

Public economics studies how government taxing and spending activities affect theeconomy -- economic efficiency and the distribution of income and wealth. This comprehensive text onpublic economics covers the core topics of market failure and taxation as well as recentdevelopments in both policy and the academic literature. It is unique not only in its broad scopebut in its balance between public finance and public choice and its combination of theory andrelevant empirical evidence. The book covers the theory and methodology of public economics;presents a historical and theoretical overview of the public sector; and discusses such topics asdepartures from efficiency (including imperfect competition and asymmetric information), issues inpolitical economy, equity, taxation, fiscal federalism, and tax competition among independentjurisdictions. Suggestions for further reading, from classic papers to recent research, appear ineach chapter, as do exercises. The mathematics has been kept to a minimum without sacrificingintellectual rigor; the book remains analytical rather than discursive. This second edition has beenthoroughly updated throughout. It offers new chapters on behavioral economics, limits toredistribution, international taxation, cost-benefit analysis, and the economics of climate policy.Additional exercises have been added and many sections revised in response to advice from readers ofthe first edition.

Jean Hindriks is Professor in the Economics Department and Codirector of the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) at the Université Catholique de Louvain.

Gareth D. Myles is Head of Department and Professor of Economics at the University of Exeter and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is the author of Public Economics.