Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy (Zeuthen Lectures) (Zeuthen Lecture Book Series) - Hardcover

Persson, Torsten; Tabellini, Guido Enrico

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262161958 ISBN 13: 9780262161954

Publisher: Mit Pr, 2000

Synopsis

What determines the size and form of redistributive programs, the extent and type of public goods provision, the burden of taxation across alternative tax bases, the size of government deficits, and the stance of monetary policy during the course of business and electoral cycles? A large and rapidly growing literature in political economics attempts to answer these questions. But so far there is little consensus on the answers and disagreement on the appropriate mode of analysis.

Combining the best of three separate traditions—the theory of macroeconomic policy, public choice, and rational choice in political science—Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini suggest a unified approach to the field. As in modern macroeconomics, individual citizens behave rationally, their preferences over economic outcomes inducing preferences over policy. As in public choice, the delegation of policy decisions to elected representatives may give rise to agency problems between voters and politicians. And, as in rational choice, political institutions shape the procedures for setting policy and electing politicians. The authors outline a common method of analysis, establish several new results, and identify the main outstanding problems.

About this title

About the Author

Torsten Persson is Director of the Institute for International Economic Studies at Stockholm University and Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. Guido Tabellini is Director of the Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research and Professor of Economics at Bocconi University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262161958
• ISBN 13: 9780262161954
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 551