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The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics pp 1–11Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Public Finance

Abstract

Concern with public finances may well be the oldest branch of economics. Statesmen have needed advice, and writing on fiscal affairs dates back to antiquity. It concerned the scholastics of the 16th century and occupied the mercantilists of the 17th. Systematic study of the public household by the Cameralists followed, and the ‘L’impôt unique’ was a central part of Physiocrat doctrine. In England, the writings of Petty, Locke, and Hume preceded Book V of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, the first ‘modern’ statement of the field. Thereafter, fiscal analysis followed (and in some cases led) the advances of economic science. Ricardo, Mill, the marginalists, Marshall, Pareto, and Pigou all left their stamp on the economics of public finance, not to mention the impact of Keynes and the emergence of stabilization as a goal of budget policy. But fiscal economics also added to the general body of economic analysis. Its concern is not limited to the effects of fiscal operations on the market, and market responses thereto. There remains the more basic question of why a public sector is needed and what rules should be applied to its conduct. Principles of public sector economics are required to provide the answer. These principles, to be sure, are coordinated with those of the market by the broader frame of economic welfare, but they address a distinct set of issues and, by their very nature, are linked more closely to the perspectives of political and social science.

This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1st edition, 1987. Edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman

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    Musgrave, R. (1987). Public Finance. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1643-1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1643-1

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    1. Latest

      Public Finance
      Published:
      06 March 2017

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1643-2

    2. Original

      Public Finance
      Published:
      24 November 2016

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1643-1

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