Public Finance in Democratic Process
Fiscal Institutions and Individual Choice
By James M. Buchanan
Foreword by James C. Miller III
321 pp., 6.125 x 9.25
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Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-4190-7
Published: September 1987 -
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-1914-9
Published: March 2014 -
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-6528-1
Published: March 2014
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What effect will the form of a new tax have on individuals' attitudes toward more or less public spending? To what extent does the private sector--public sector mix depend on the way in which tax payments are made? How do the various taxes affect the fiscal consciousness of individual citizens? These are questions that have been ignored for the most part. They are, nonetheless, important and worthy of examination. This book is an attempt to provide some provisional answers. By the use of simplified models of existing tax institutions, Buchanan predicts the effects that these exert on individual behavior in the area of political choice. The relative effects of direct and indirect taxes, the "old tax--new tax" distinction, the effects of fiscal earmarking, the effects of unbalanced budgets -- these are a few of the topics examined.
Before these questions can be fully answered, research must be conducted to find out just how much individuals know about the taxes they pay and the benefits they receive. Comparatively little research of this kind has been completed, but the author devotes a chapter to a careful review of the present state of this sort of research.
Individuals' choice among alternative fiscal institutions is examined in the second part of the book. If given the opportunity, how would the individual choose to pay his or her taxes? Progressive income taxes, excise taxes, and public debt are analyzed in terms of this question.
Because of its interdisciplinary approach, this imaginative study will be of interest to both economists and political scientists.
About the Author
Recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economics, James Buchanan has won international recognition for his pioneering role in the development of public-choice theory.
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Reviews
"This book is perhaps the best compact exposition of Buchanan's theory of public choice."--James C. Miller III, from the Foreword