1 comments about The Fiscal Revolution in America , 2nd Edition: Policy in Pursuit of Reality.

1. Stein's is the classic account of how ideas on fiscal policy evolved up through the 1964 tax cut. Stein was a close observer for most of the period from the early 1940s through the end of his tale in the 1960s and many of his conclusions rely on his own experiences. In fact, most scholars will find this book rather thinly referenced. Stein made almost no use of primary sources other than Congressional hearings and a few documents that he had access to through friends and colleagues. Still given the postions Stein had occupied during these years, this account is indispensible for historians, political scientists, and economists.
   
   One gripe: This edition, published in 1996 (the first edition appeared in 1969) is not really a "revised second edition" as stated on the cover. The bulk of the book is an unrevised reprinting of the first edition, with a previously published essay that brings the story up to 1994 tacked on at the end. This is a fairly common cheat with academic books: Claiming something is a second edition when it just contains a new preface or one new chapter, with the rest of the book left untouched. If you want to claim something is a "second edition" you should revise it; otherwise it is just a new printing, not a new edition.

3 comments about Urban Economics.

1. I had "Urban Economics" for one of my urban planning courses at graduate school. It was a pleasure to study the principles and processes of city building, growth and dynamics, through this book. Every chapter in the book can be a title for a separate volume. So this is a very comprehensive overall general view of economics as a determinant of urban development and form.

   I particularly liked the chapters on Urban Poverty and Housing. The chapter on poverty explains issues like income transfers, food stamps and their effect on consumer behavior, problems of inner cities and development policies needed to change that.

   Housing has a great chapter devoted to the peculiarities of housing as a commodity and the effect of race and discrimination on housing patterns. The most interesting part concerns the "filtering" of housing from the upper income to lower income populations.

   Also explained is the auto oriented transportation vs mass transit and their specific roles in shaping cities.

   Highly recommended. Easy to read and understand.




2. STILL IN PACKAGE, book was in great shape, brand new, prompt delivery.



3. It's not the perfect textbook for the subject, but it is good enough that I still use it in my class. I gave five stars to the 5th edition. The new edition has less material and it is organized in a more integrated way, which for some could be better, but I prefer to teach in a more focused way (with each chapter focusing on one issue). Thus, because there is less material and the new organization, I would give 4 stars to the 6th edition. The book is still very comprehensive, although there are topics that could be better explored (either simplified or extended) and in some cases more accurately according to the current standard urban economics. It has a very good survey of empirical evidence (actually the best feature of the book), but they lack details on the evidence and on the limitations of the studies. Finally, the examples in the text and in the end-of-chapters are poor (not realistic, not creative, and not well adjusted to the material in the book). There are no questions to test knowledge, just understanding (however, these questions are not very clear or smart).

No comments about Public Finance and Public Policy in the New Century (CESifo Seminar Series).

No comments about Public Finance in Theory and Practice: Limited Signed Edition.

No comments about Tax Treaty Interpretation (Eucotax Series on European Taxation, 3.).

No comments about The New Public Management: Improving Research and Policy Dialogue (Wildavsky Forum Series).

No comments about The Cost of Good Intentions: New York City and the Liberal Experiment.

No comments about The Network Economy: Strategy, Structure And Management.

3 comments about Public Finance.

1. This book is not as challenging as Stiglitz, and the author does not have Stiglitz's dazzling facility with economic theory. But Rosen is properly less trusting of the political process, gives greater scope to political and ethical philosophy, is open to a wider range of ideas and has more references than Stiglitz, is less prone to rush to judgement, and is less beholden to the Clintonista viewpoint. This is the better book upon which to ground a sound understanding of public economics. Compare Rosen with Stiglitz on the Coase Theorem, the Flat Tax, the economic role of the stock market, and Social Security reform. Too bad Rosen's fairness cannot be combined with Stiglitz's brilliance.



2. Perhaps slightly lacking on the theoretical side (but I guess this was Prof Rosen's objective), this book offers a broad yet detailed overview of public economics. Many parts are in narrative style making for a pleasantly clear read.
   Certainly a good and clear text for an exposition on the topic, especially if complemented/expanded on by a good lecturer.



3. Although Stiglitz makes it extremely readable and more elegant in his Economics of the Public Sector, I found it more effective to learn the subject due to the deeper treatment of the models and theories.

1 comments about DEBT AND TAXES (Collected Works of James M Buchanan).

1. Volume 14 of James M. Buchanan's Collected Works series contains his papers on taxation and on public debt finance. The papers supplement Buchanan's book-length treatments of those subjects (which are, roughly, volumes 2, 4, 8, and 9 in the series).
   
   The papers on taxation are divided into four categories: public choice, earmarking, tax limitations, and fiscal constitutionalism. The dominant theme is the shortcomings of orthodox public finance theory, as observed from a public-choice perspective. Public finance-based tax theory tends to neglect the expenditure side of the government budget. Public finance focuses too much on outcomes, whether of justice or efficiency or economic growth, and not enough on the process by or rules under which these outcomes are obtained. And public finance theory tends to not adequately consider the political setting within which collective choices are made. In short, public finance is interested in what's best for government, while public choice is more interested in what's best for individual citizens.
   
   Buchanan's views on public debt finance can be summarized as follows.
   (i.) Public debt constitutes a burden on future generations (we do not "owe it to ourselves"). This is unfair because those future generations end up facing a financial burden that is the result of spending and borrowing decisions in which they had no participation.
   (ii.) The tendency in elective majoritarian democracy becomes for government to borrow and spend rather than tax and spend, and to spend much rather than little. "The most elementary prediction from public choice theory is that in the absence of moral or constitutional constraints democracies will finance some share of current public consumption from debt issue rather than from taxation and that, in consequence, spending rates will be higher than would accrue under budget balance." (p. 471) To correct for these defects, Buchanan favors a constitutional balanced budget amendment. Along the way he also thoroughly debunks Robert J. Barro's famous interpretation of Ricardian equivalence.
   
   Most papers in this volume are clearly academic in nature, as are Buchanan's books on the same topics. Personally, I prefer the papers over the books, since they offer the same substance in more concentrated fashion, which means you receive more bang for your buck and for your time invested reading. With this volume, it's time that is very well spent.