Public finance and public policy / Jonathan Gruber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gruber, Jonathan.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Finance, Public.

Fiscal policy.

Public welfare--Finance.

Public welfare.

Taxation.

Physical Description:

xxxviii, 756 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 27 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Worth Publishers, [2007]

Contents:

Part I Background

1 Why Study Public Finance?

The Four Questions of Public Finance

Why Study Public Finance? Facts on Government in the U.S. and Around the World

Why Study Public Finance Now? Policy Debates over Social Security, Health Care, and Education

2 Theoretical Tools of Public Finance

Constrained Utility Maximization

Putting the Tools to Work: TANF and Labor Supply Among Single Mothers

Equilibrium and Social Welfare

Welfare Implications of Benefit Reductions: The TANF Example Continued

Appendix: The Mathematics of Utility Maximization

3 Empirical Tools of Public Finance

The Important Distinction between Correlation and Causality

Measuring Causality with Data We'd Like To Have: Randomized Trials

Estimating Causation with Data We Actually Get: Behavioral Observations

Appendix: Cross-sectional Regression Analysis Example

4 Tools of Budget Analysis

Federal Budgeting

Do Debts and Deficits Mean Anything? A Long Run Perspective

Why Do We Care About the Government's Fiscal Position?

Part II Externalitites and Public Goods

5 Externalities: Problems and Solutions

Externality Theory

Private Sector Solutions to Externalities

Public Sector Solutions to Externalities

Distinctions between Price and Quantity Approaches to Regulation

6 Externalities in Action: Environmental and Health Externalities

Acid Rain

Global Warming

The Economics of Smoking

The Externalities of Other Addictive Behaviors

7 Public Goods: Problems and Solutions

Optimal Provision of Public Goods

Private Provision of Public Goods

Public Provision with Private Provision

Appendix: Mathematics of Public Goods

8 Cost/Benefit Analysis

Measuring the Benefits of Public Goods

Measuring the Costs of Public Goods

Putting it all Together: Cost/Benefit Comparisons

9 Implementing Public Goods: Political Economy and Public Choice

Optimal Financing of Public Goods and its Problems

Mechanisms for Aggregating Individual Preferences

Representative Democracy and the Median Voter Theory

Public Choice Theory: The Foundations of Government Failure

10 State and Local Government Expenditures

Fiscal Federalism in the U.S. and Abroad

Optimal Fiscal Federalism

Should We Redistribute Across Communities? Intergovernmental Grants

11 Public Goods in Action: Education

Why Should the Government be Involved in Education?

How Should the Government be Involved in Education? Crowding Out and Vouchers

Measuring the Returns to Education

The Role of the Government in Higher Education

Part III Social Insurance and Redistribution

12 Social Insurance

What is Insurance and Why do Individuals Value it?

Why Have Social Insurance?

Social Insurance vs. Self-Insurance: How Much Consumption Smoothing?

The Problem with Insurance: Moral Hazard

Putting it All Together: Optimal Social Insurance

Appendix: Expected Utility Model and Adverse Selection

13 Social Security

What is Social Security and How Does It Work?

Consumption Smoothing Benefits of Social Security

Social Security and Retirement

Social Security Reform

14 Unemployment Insurance, Workers' Compensation and Disability Insurance

Institutional Features of UI, WC and DI

Consumption Smoothing Benefits of Social Insurance Programs

Moral Hazard Effects of Social Insurance Programs

The Costs and Benefits of Social Insurance to Firms

Implications for Program Reform

Appendix: Quasi-experimental Estimates of the Effects of UI

15 Health Insurance I: Health Economics and Private Health Insurance

An Overview of Health Care in the U.S.

The Efficiency Costs of Health Insurance: Patient-side Moral Hazard

The Efficiency Costs of Health Insurance: Provider-side Moral Hazard

16 Health Insurance II: Medicare and Medicaid

The Medicaid Program for Low Income Mothers and Children

What are the Effects of the Medicaid Program

The Medicare Program

What are the Effects of the Medicare Program?

Long Term Care

Lessons for Health Care Reform in the U.S.

17 Income Distribution and Welfare

Why Redistribute?

Welfare Policy in the U.S.

The Costs of Welfare Policy

Reforming Welfare

Part IV Taxation in Theory and Practice

18 Taxation in the U.S. and Around the World

Types of Taxation in the U.S. and Other Nations

Basic Structure of the Income Tax in the U.S.

Measuring the Distributional Properties of Tax Systems

Defining the Income Tax Base

Externality/Public Goods Rationales for Deviating from Haig-Simons

The Appropriate Unit of Taxation

19 The Equity Implications of Taxation

Tax Incidence

The Three Rules of Tax Incidence

Tax Incidence Extensions

General Equilibrium Tax Incidence

The Incidence of Taxation in the U.S.

Appendix: The Mathematics of Tax Incidence

20 Tax Inefficiencies and Their Implications for Optimal Taxation

Taxation and Economic Efficiency

Optimal Commodity Taxation

Optimal Income Taxation

Tax/Benefit Linkages and the Financing of Social Insurance Programs

Appendix: The Mathematics of Optimal Taxation

21 Taxes on Labor Supply

Taxation and Labor Supply: Theory

Taxation and Labor Supply: Evidence

Tax Incentives and Labor Supply Decisions: The Earned Income Tax Credit

The Tax Treatment of Child Care Expenditures

22 Taxation of Savings

Taxation of Savings: Theory

Taxation of Savings: Evidence

Tax Incentive for Savings

23 Taxes on Risk Taking and Wealth

Taxation and Risk-Taking: Theory and Evidence

Tax Evasion

Capital Gains Taxation

Estate Taxation

Property Taxation

24 Issues of Corporate Taxation

What are Corporations and Why Do We Tax Them?

The Structure of the Corporate Tax

The Efficiency Consequences of the Corporate Tax

Investment

Treatment of International Corporate Income

Financing

25 Tax Reform

Tax Rates and Tax Revenues

Tax Simplicity

Tax Reform Dynamics: The Politics of Tax Reform

Consumption Taxation and Other Fundamental Tax Reforms.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

0716766310

9780716766315

OCLC:

82145321