Paper Abstract
616. Louis Kaplow, The Theory of Taxation and Public Economics, 06/2008.
This working paper contains the table of contents and introductory chapter to The Theory of Taxation and Public Economics (Princeton University Press 2008). The book presents a unified conceptual framework for analyzing taxation and other fiscal instruments. Subjects include optimal income taxation, commodity taxation, government expenditures on transfer programs and on public goods, capital taxation, taxation of private voluntary transfers, social security, taxation of different family units, and the welfare economic underpinnings of redistributive taxation. By applying a common methodology to disparate subjects, the book produces significant cross-fertilization, yields solutions to previously intractable problems, and suggests an agenda for further theoretical investigation as well as empirical research.