The paper examines the application of the concept of economic efficiency to collective decision processes and public sector institutions. We show that the existence of transactions costs and of collective decision-making procedures requires a broader framework for judging policy processes and...

There is a long-standing difference amongst public economists between those who think that collective choice must be formally acknowledged, and those who derive their policy recommendations from a social planning framework in which politics plays no role. The purpose of this book is to...

Tax systems have changed considerably in the past three decades. These fundamental changes have been the result of economic globalization, new political stances, and also of developments in public finance thought. The chapters in this volume offer a critical review of those changes from the...