Public finance / Harvey S. Rosen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosen, Harvey S.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Finance, Public--United States.

Finance, Public.

United States.

Physical Description:

xxx, 609 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

Seventh edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : McGraw-Hill Irwin, [2005]

Summary:

"Public Finance"--while continuing to follow an innovative approach that is both theoretical and empirical--is now completely updated to reflect major changes in its key topics. New or revised information includes explanations of the Social Security trust fund, a new section on the alternative minimum tax (AMT), possible links between the corporation tax and high-profile scandals such as Enron, and more.

Contents:

Public Finance and Ideology 4

Government at a Glance 7

Appendix Doing Research in Public Finance 18

2 Tools of Positive Analysis 20

The Role of Theory 21

Methods of Empirical Analysis 24

3 Tools of Normative Analysis 33

Welfare Economics 33

The First Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics 41

Fairness and the Second Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics 42

Market Failure 46

Buying into Welfare Economics 48

Part 2 Analysis of Public Expenditure

4 Public Goods 55

Public Goods Defined 55

Efficient Provision of Public Goods 58

The Privatization Debate 65

Education 70

Public Goods and Public Choice 76

Appendix Preference Revelation Mechanisms 79

5 Externalities 81

The Nature of Externalities 82

Graphical Analysis 84

Private Responses 88

Public Responses to Externalities 92

The US Response 99

Implications for Income Distribution 101

Positive Externalities 103

6 Political Economy 111

Direct Democracy 112

Representative Democracy 122

Explaining Government Growth 133

7 Income Redistribution: Conceptual Issues 143

Distribution of Income 144

Rationales for Income Redistribution 148

Expenditure Incidence 156

8 Expenditure Programs for the Poor 165

A Quick Look at Welfare Spending 165

TANF 166

Income Maintenance and Work Incentives 167

The Earned Income Tax Credit 176

Supplemental Security Income 178

Medicaid 178

Food Stamps and Child Nutrition 181

Housing Assistance 182

Programs to Enhance Earnings 184

9 Social Insurance I: Social Security and Unemployment Insurance 191

Why Have Social Insurance? 192

Structure of Social Security 194

Effects on Economic Behavior 203

Long-Term Stresses on Social Security 206

Social Security Reform 207

Unemployment Insurance 210

10 Social Insurance II: Health Care 216

What's Special About Health Care? 216

The US Health Care Market 219

The Role of Government 222

The Twin Issues: Access and Cost 228

New Directions for Government's Role in Health Care 233

11 Cost-Benefit Analysis 239

Present Value 240

Private Sector Project Evaluation 243

Discount Rate for Government Projects 247

Valuing Public Benefits and Costs 250

Games Cost-Benefit Analysts Play 257

Distributional Considerations 258

Uncertainty 260

An Application: Are Reductions in Class Size Worth It? 261

Use (and Nonuse) by Government 263

Appendix Calculating the Certainty Equivalent Value 267

Part 3 A Framework for Tax Analysis

12 Taxation and Income Distribution 273

Tax Incidence: General Remarks 274

Partial Equilibrium Models 278

General Equilibrium Models 292

13 Taxation and Efficiency 304

Excess Burden Defined 305

Excess Burden Measurement with Demand Curves 313

Differential Taxation of Inputs 321

Does Efficient Taxation Matter? 324

Appendix A Formula for Excess Burden 326

Appendix B Multiple Taxes and the Theory of the Second Best 327

14 Efficient and Equitable Taxation 329

Optimal Commodity Taxation 329

Optimal User Fees 336

Optimal Income Taxation 339

Politics and the Time Inconsistency Problem 343

Other Criteria for Tax Design 344

Part 4 The United States Revenue System

15 The Personal Income Tax 359

Basic Structure 359

Defining Income 361

Excludable Forms of Money Income 364

Exemptions and Deductions 370

Rate Structure 380

Taxes and Inflation 385

The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) 388

Choice of Unit and the Marriage Tax 390

Treatment of International Income 394

State Income Taxes 395

Politics and Tax Reform 396

16 Personal Taxation and Behavior 401

Labor Supply 402

Saving 411

Housing Decisions 421

Portfolio Composition 424

A Note on Politics and Elasticities 425

17 The Corporation Tax 428

Why Tax Corporations? 428

Structure 429

Incidence and Excess Burden 434

Effects on Behavior 437

State Corporation Taxes 444

Taxation of Multinational Corporations 445

Corporation Tax Reform 449

18 Deficit Finance 455

How Big Is the Debt? 455

The Burden of the Debt 461

To Tax or to Borrow? 466

19 Taxes on Consumption and Wealth 473

Retail Sales Tax 473

Value-Added Tax 478

Hall-Rabushka Flat Tax 482

Cash-Flow Tax 483

Efficiency and Fairness of Personal Consumption Taxes 484

Income versus Consumption Taxation 487

Wealth Taxes 491

Estate and Gift Taxes 492

Part 5 Multigovernment Public Finance

20 Public Finance in a Federal System 505

Community Formation 507

The Tiebout Model 508

Optimal Federalism 512

Property Tax 521

Intergovernmental Grants 530

Appendix Some Basic Microeconomics 542.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 577-593) and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

0072876484

OCLC:

53814484

Online:

Contributor biographical information