Description

By (author) Gruber Jonathan

Short /annotation
Rigorous theory, cutting-edge empirical evidence, and abundant policy-oriented applications can be found in this new sixth edition of the textbook Public Finance Public Policy. The new edition details ongoing policy debates, with special focus on the largest tax reform in 30 years.

We are currently engaged in the most fundamental debate about the role of government in decades, and who better than Jonathan Gruber to guide students through the particulars in the new edition of his best-selling text, Public Finance and Public Policy, 6e.
The new edition details ongoing policy debates, with special focus on the largest tax reform in 30 years. New topics include universal basic income, the legalisation of weed, and congestion pricing. And, of course, there is an extensive, in-depth discussion of the debate over health care
At the heart of this new edition is the author’s belief that at no other time has it been so important to know the facts, to distinguish facts from falsehoods, and to be thinking clearly about problem, policy, and politics. The sixth edition delivers on all counts.

Table of contents
PART I Introduction and Background.- 1. Why Study Public Finance?.- 2.Theoretical Tools of Public Finance.- 3.Empirical Tools of Public Finance.- 4. Budget Analysis and Deficit Financing.- PART II Externalities and Public Goods.- 5. Externalities: Problems and Solutions.- 6. Externalities in Action: Environmental and Health Externalities.- 7. Public Goods.- 8. Cost-Benefit Analysis.-9. Political Economy.- 10. State and Local Government Expenditures.- 11. Education.- PART III Social Insurance and Redistribution.- 12. Social Insurance: The New Function of Government.- 13. Social Security.- 14. Unemployment Insurance, Disability Insurance, and Workers’ Compensation.- 15. Health Insurance I: Health Economics and Private Health Insurance.- 16. Health Insurance II: Medicare, Medicaid, and Health Care Reform.- 17. Income Distribution and Welfare Programs.- PART IV Taxation in Theory and Practice.- 18. Taxation: How It Works and What It Means.- 19. The Equity Implications of Taxation: Tax Incidence.- 20. Tax Inefficiencies and Their Implications for Optimal Taxation.- 21. Taxes on Labor Supply.- 22. Taxes on Savings.- 23. Taxes on Risk Taking and Wealth.- 24. Taxation of Business Income.- 25. Fundamental Tax Reform and Consumption Taxation

Biographical note
Dr. Jonathan Gruber is a Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he has taught since 1992. He is also the Director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he is a Research Associate, and former President Elect of the American Society of Health Economists. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Feature
Questions to Keep in Mind – Questions at the start of each chapter, alert students to the chapter’s “big ideas,” thus helping them organise the many ideas presented in the chapter
Integrated Applications – The Applications in this text allow students to step back from the main text and appreciate the policy relevance of the material. These applications are integrated directly with the text, rather than set aside, so that students understand the importance of applying the material they are learning
Empirical Evidence Boxes – For instructors who wish to explore in more depth the nature of the empirical findings mentioned in the text, Empirical Evidence boxes are set aside from the main text to explain carefully the research process that generates the major empirical findings in public finance
Integration of Relevant Statistics – Throughout the text, and in a number of graphs and tables, this text presents the statistics about the