The Economic Approach to Public Policy : : Selected Readings / / ed. by Robert D. Tollison, Ryan Amacher, Thomas D. Willett.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• MitwirkendeR: Amacher, Ryan C.,; Buchanan, James M.,; Clague, Christopher K.,; Fisher, Anthony C.,; Greene, Kenneth V.,; Heilbroner, Robert L.,; McKean, Roland N.,; McLure, Charles E.,; Miller, James C.,; Mueller, Dennis C.,; Niskanen, William A.,; Okun, Arthur M.,; Olson, Mancur,; Passell, Peter,; Pauly, Mark V.,; Roberts, Marc,; Ross, Leonard,; Schultz, Theodore W.,; Schultze, Charles L.,; Shubik, Martin,; Shultz, George P.,; Solow, Robert M.,; Stigler, George J.,; Thurow, Lester C.,; Tobin, James,; Tollison, Robert D.,; Tullock, Gordon,; Wallich, Henry C.,; Willett, Thomas D.,
• HerausgeberIn: Amacher, Ryan,; Tollison, Robert D.,; Willett, Thomas D.,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©1976
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (528 p.)

Can traditional economic theory help to solve today's vexing social problems? This unique collection of thirty-six papers strongly suggests that it can. The economic approach is applied imaginatively by the authors to a wide range of contemporary issues, such as crime, higher education, the environment, revenue sharing, equity, justice, and the distribution of income. The articles also deal with governmental behavior and the role of the economist as governmental adviser.Shaped during the preparation and teaching of college classes, the book is well suited for courses in principles of economics, microeconomics, price theory, and public policy development and analysis. It should also prove a useful reference work for policy makers.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- List of Contributors -- Introduction -- Part I: Perspectives on the Usefulness of Economics as a Guide for Social Policy -- 1. The Economic Approach to Social Policy Questions: Some Methodological Perspectives -- 2. Consensus and Controversy in Political Economy -- 3. On the Limited "Relevance" of Economics -- 4. Science and Ideology in Economics -- 5. Dissent in Economics: The Convergence of Extremes -- Part II: Application of Economic Thinking to Some Particular Social Problems -- A. Crime and Punishment -- 7. An Economic Approach to Crime -- 8. Equity versus Efficiency in Law Enforcement -- B. Higher Education and the Dissemination of Information -- 9. Resources for Higher Education: An Economist's View -- 10. The University and the Price System -- C. The Environment -- 11. Economists on the Doomsday Models: A Review of The Limits to Growth, by Donella H. Meadows et al, and Norid Dynamics and Urban Dynamics, by Jay W. Forrester -- 12. Population and Environmental Quality -- 13. The Economics of Fatal Mistakes: Fiscal Mechanisms for Preserving Endangered Predators -- D. Revenue Sharing and the Drawing of Political Boundary Lines -- 14. Federalism: Problems of Scale -- 15. Revenue Sharing: Alternative to Rational Fiscal Federalism? -- Part III: Economists on Equity, Justice, and the Distribution of Income -- 16. A Menu of Distributional Considerations -- 17. On Limiting the Domain of Inequality -- 18. Director's Law of Public Income Redistribution -- 19. Two Concepts of Equity and Their Implications for Public Policy -- 20. The Utilitarian Contract: A Generalization of Rawls' Theory of Justice -- Part IV: Economists on Governmental and Political Failure -- A. Deviation from the Ideal in Governmental Behavior -- 21. Toward Analysis of Closed Behavioral Systems -- 22. The Peculiar Economics of Bureaucracy -- 23. Divergences between Individual and Total Costs Within Government -- B. Problems of Informed Voting -- 24. A Program for Direct and Proxy Voting in the Legislative Process -- 25. On Homo Politicus and the Instant Referendum -- 26. Representative Democracy via Random Selection -- 27. Some Simple Economics of Voting and Not Voting -- C. Are There Systematic Biases in Government Budget Size? -- 28. Risk Avoidance and Political Advertising: Neglected Issues in the Literature on Budget Size in a Democracy -- 29. Attitudes toward Risk and the Relative Size of the Public Sector -- D. Rationalizing our Political Decision-making -- 30. Solving the Intensity Problem in Representative Democracy -- Part V: Economics and Economists in the Policy Process -- 31. The Economist and Presidential Leadership -- 32. Reflections on Political Economy -- 33. The American Council of Economic Advisers and the German Sachverstaendigenrat: A Study in the Economics of Advice -- 34. Muddling Through: An Alternative View of the Decision Process -- 35. A Modest Proposal -- 36. A Defense of the CEA as an Instrument for Giving Economic Policy Advice -- Index of Names