Public Choice III

Book Description

This book represents a considerable revision and expansion of Public Choice II (1989). As in the previous editions, all of the major topics of public choice are covered. These include: why the state exists, voting rules, federalism, the theory of clubs, two-party and multiparty electoral systems, rent seeking, bureaucracy, interest groups, dictatorship, the size of government, voter participation, and political business cycles. Normative issues in public choice are also examined. The book is suitable for upper level courses in economics dealing with politics, and political science courses emphasizing rational actor models.

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

Good Review Text on Rat-Choice Politics and Public Choice.......2003-05-22

This is a great book! As a political-science graduate student I've been exposed to a great deal of game-theory and rat-choice in my seminar classes, but, unfortunately, it has come in the form of numerous papers, piles of books, and several classes that did not build off of one another. I was left with the feeling that it was a very, very important subject, but it was presented in a manner that left me, as a student, with an incomplete picture of the topic and the breadth of work that has gone on in this field.

Mueller's achievements in this volume have been three:

1. Coherent presentation of the theory of public choice / rational politics.

2. Discussion of the most important empirical work that has gone on in this field in a unified fashion that leads one naturally into further inquiry in this area.

3. Logically organizes and presents the material in a way that reinforces concepts, logic, and thinking in the book.

These three things make this book a great review or introductory text to the field of public choice / rational politics that should be on the "must have" list of every serious student of politics and economics. Moreover, not being terribly skilled at mathematics myself, the material is presented both through intuitive written discussions, fairly simplistic "example" equations that are pretty easy to follow if you've had a "principles" microecon course with calculus, and, which I greatly appreciate, a fair amount of graphs. Moreover, the bibliography that the book draws on is very, very extensive...meaning that it has the additional utility of being a handy jumping off point if you're doing research in this area.

My only complaint, and this is a minor one, is that I would like a bit more math in the book either at the end of each chapter or in an appendix that works out, step-by-step, some of the additional concepts he runs over that aren't dealt with mathematically in the main text of the chapters themselves.

Book Description

The problem-solving capacity, and hence the democratic legitimacy, of national governments is being weakened by the dual processes of legal and economic integration in Europe; and the loss is not fully compensated by the development of effective and legitimate problem-solving capabilities at the European level. Professor Scharpf supports his position by examining the normative underpinnings of democratic legitimacy and by a detailed analysis of the structural asymmetry between the effectiveness of the legal instruments of `negative integration' which prevents governments from interfering with the free movements of goods, services, capital, and persons and the political constraints impeding positive political action at the European level. This is particularly true for policies pertaining to the welfare state. Governing in Europe explores strategies at the national level that could succeed in maintaining welfare state goals even under conditions of international economic competition, and it also discusses the conditions under which European policy could play a protective and enabling role with regard to these national solutions. The author suggests that if these opportunities should be used, multi-level governance in Europe could indeed regain both effectiveness and legitimacy.

Social Democracy & Welfare Capitalism: A Century of Income Security Politics

Average customer rating:

Building Welfare States
Explaining a Century of Social Policy

Social Democracy & Welfare Capitalism: A Century of Income Security Politics
Alexander Hicks
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Capitalism, Democracy, and Welfare (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics)
Development and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties and Policies in Global Markets
Small States in World Markets: Industrial Policy in Europe (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)
The Currency of Ideas: Monetary Politics in the European Union (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)
Markets and Moral Regulation: Cultural Change in the European Union (Themes in European Governance)

ASIN: 0801485568

Book Description

What has brought about the widespread public provision of welfare and income security within free-market liberalism? Some social scientists have regarded welfare as a preindustrial atavism; others, as a functional requirement of industrial society. Most recently, scholars have stressed the reformist actions of center-left parties during the decades following World War II, the workings of "new" post-industrial politics lately, and a multifaceted role of politics and state institutions overall. Alexander Hicks thoroughly revises these views, stressing the enduring significance of class organizations, however politically embedded, from the era of Bismark until the present.

Social Democracy and Welfare Capitalism describes and explains income security programs in affluent and democratic capitalist nations, from the proto-democratic innovators of the 1880s to the globally buffeted democracies of the 1990s. Hicks's account stresses the reformist role of employee political and economic organization and derivative institutions, in particular, social democratic parties, labor unions, and neo-corporatist arrangements. These forces, arrayed as the elements of a transnational and century-long social democratic movement, give direction and continuity to the emergence, development, and contestation of income security policies.

Customer Reviews:

Building Welfare States.......2002-09-17

Building welfare states to secure citizens against the income losses associated with unemployment, sickness and old age has been one of the major projects of government in all rich capitalist democracies in the 20th century. But why have some countries done more than others and done it in such different ways? Alex Hicks' Social Democracy and Welfare Capitalism rivals all of its predecessors in making these large questions both theoretically and empirically tractable. In six core analytical chapters covering six historical periods, Hicks takes us on an intellectual journey that begins with Bismarck (the emergence of welfare states) and ends with the younger Bush (the "crisis" of welfare states).

What is decidedly novel here is the fact that for each period Hicks brings to bear new and original evidence (not just the usual review of secondary sources) that he uses to test well identified research hypotheses that are theoretically based and historically contextualized. For comparative-historical analysis of this sort one needs to know lots of history and the history of lots of countries - a lifetime's work.

The story begins with the social movements and political actors, especially labor unions and reformist political parties, that created the foundations of modern social policy in the first half of the century and is carried forward to the present by the political institutions that were their progeny. It concludes with a careful analysis of the impact of globalization and demographic change on late 20th century welfare state "retrenchment" and suggests that there may be less here than meets the eye.

Social Democracy and Welfare Capitalism is social science in its best sense. It is not bedtime reading but the reward is large: over a century of welfare state history, carefully analysed, in 250 tightly argued pages.

Explaining a Century of Social Policy.......2002-09-16

In his prodigious Social Democracy and Welfare Capitalism, Alexander Hicks appraises the social democratic thesis through several phases of welfare state development. The result often goes against the conventional wisdom and in compelling ways.

Hicks's goals are nothing if not ambitious. He sets out to explain "the variable course of income security programs and benefits in relatively affluent, democratic capitalist nations" from the 1880s until the present. And he argues "for the
promise of class mobilization as a core element in the explanation of income security policy's differential development..."

He sees social democracy as a transnational social movement whose different manifestations-including its earliest mobilization, its governance modes, and its neo-corporatist forms-have driven social policy. That said, he supplements his argumentation by analyzing the mediating role of state structures on these processes.

What is remarkable is that Hicks speaks forcefully to so many
different debates about social policy-with an innovative argument about the evolving impact of social democracy over the last century, formal techniques, and historical sophistication. Social Democracy and Welfare Capitalism is required reading for both historical and quantitative scholars of social policy and others hoping to understand the transformation of states into welfare states over the last century.

Book Description

Based on the key idea that social protection in a modern economy, both inside and outside the state, can be understood as protection of specific investments in human capital, Torben Iversen offers a systematic explanation of popular preferences for redistributive spending, the economic role of political parties and electoral systems, and labor market stratification (including gender inequality). Contrary to the popular idea that competition in the global economy undermines international differences in the level of social protection, Iversen argues that these differences are actually made possible by a high international division of labor.

New American Blues: A Journey Through Poverty to Democracy

Average customer rating:

A Book that Will be Remembered
This book is a must for all educators
Shorris hits soft underbelly of American equality myth

New American Blues: A Journey Through Poverty to Democracy
Earl Shorris
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Riches for the Poor: The Clemente Course in the Humanities

ASIN: 0393045544

Book Description

A startling redefinition of poverty, and a bold proposal for conquering it by clearing the ancient path from the humanities to politics. The journey begins on the streets of North Lawndale in Chicago, where the author was born in the Depression and where he returns to measure the difference that half a century has wrought in the social and economic life of the 24th Ward, today more than ever a place of the most desperate poverty. New American Blues takes the reader into the private life of the poor: to Tulsa, where the mother of three little girls awaits the promised return of a man who tried to kill her with a chain saw; to the mountains of Tennessee, where a teenage girl, who lives in an abandoned house with no running water, goes to a movie theater for the first time in her life. Why do the poor have no political life, no public life now? What we discover is that the poor exist inside a surround of force, which prevents them from living the political life at any level: family, neighborhood, community, city, or nation. Was it ever different? Is there anything to be learned from these haunting vignettes? If the poor could rediscover their lost connection to society in its largest sense, the problem might cease to exist. This possibility, suggested to the author by a woman in a maximum-security prison, is the seed of the brave experiment in true democracy, in real education, that forms the last part of New American Blues. This is a beautiful and dangerous book. It can change our understanding of what it means to be poor, and also our understanding of what it means to be American. Sections of this book were featured in eight weekly installments of NPR's "Marketplace."

Customer Reviews:

A Book that Will be Remembered.......1999-05-05

If you care about the future of this country, read this book

This book is a must for all educators.......1999-03-12

This book is about confronting poverty, about empowering the poor to take control of their lives, and is thus a major sociological document (though adoption of its agenda would put a small army of social fix-it people out of work). Just as important, though, it is a book about education, one that validates once again the irreplaceable treasure of a liberal education. The American educational establishment is in thrall to vocationalism, particularly, to preparation for corporate life (see "What Business Wants from Higher Education"). Aristotle warned us about this narrowly utilitarian view of mental culture, calling it the education of a slave. Taking to heart Robert Hutchins' aphorism ("The best education for the best is the best education for all"), Shorris took his idealism to the inner city and put a group of social cast-offs in touch with their powers--their intelligence, their sensitivity, their decency. Most went on to study successfully in college. We can't clone Mr. Shorris once, much less the thousands of times necessary to staff all the classrooms where someone like him is needed, but we can urge teachers and administrators to read his book. His book is a blessed antidote to the mountains of New Age educational tracts touting panaceas like cyber instruction, collaborative learning, education "tailored to the individual learning styles of each student," and other approaches that stress method at the expense of content.

Shorris hits soft underbelly of American equality myth.......1998-10-10

Go ahead. Say it out loud: "Poverty," "Poor," "The Poor." Most of us feel at least uncomfortable if not repulsed when saying and thinking about these words. We push poverty away, deny its existence, avoid it and its implications. Not Earl Shorris. He plunges right in with his book "New American Blues," and takes us to places and through thoughts and situations that many of us would never choose to visit. Shorris, with insight like sharp knife, cuts to the quick and calls the question, what happens when people are acted upon? What happens when people are not at liberty to choose their response? Or on an even deeper level, what happens when people do not know that the liberty to choose their response is an option?

Poverty in America, the blemish on the model's perfect skin, the scarred lip framing the endless smile, the Achilles heel of the "land of milk and honey," the ugly duckling shunted aside by the American myth, is what we meet as we travel with Shorris through America's underbelly. Shorris takes the bold step into "the surround" as he calls it, the enclosure, into the pen, into the hopeless, isolated entrapment of the poor in America and asks how this poverty came to be and why it persists. Perhaps a question worth asking in the wealthiest nation on the planet?

Through his many examples of the dialogue of hopelessness and entrapment in the surround he brings the dark, perpetual stuckness of poverty in America into the light. For readers with the courage to look, it becomes crystal clear to just what extent the alienation and atomization of the citizens of the USA continue to drive a stake between the American ideals of equality, truth and justice for all -- and the cold bruising reality that is out there hiding (just barely) in the shadows.

Shorris highlights the critical importance of supporting the individual in developing the ability to reflect, to develop the capability not simply to fall into the patterns of knee-jerk reaction, but to become conscious of the surround. Through interaction "in the polis," by becoming involved in our community, with the people around us, the outer dialogue can be changed and a new dialogue can be internalized. It is critical to note that for those whose lives are within the surround of poverty he posits no mind space between stimulus and response, no dialogue allowing for alternatives. Perhaps the experience of Viktor Frankl is illustrative in this regard. I quote from Stephen Covey: "One, day, naked and alone in a small room, he began to become aware of what he later called "the last of the human freedoms" -- the freedom his Nazi captors could not take away. They could control his entire environment, they could do what they wanted to his body, but Viktor Frankl himself was a self-aware being who could look as an observer at his very involvement. His basic identity was intact. He could decide within himself how all of this was going to affect him. Between what happened to him, or the stimulus, and his response to it, was his freedom or power to choose that response." Shorris shows that the multigenerational poor in America, the land of the free, are neither aware of nor able to activate this power. The poor abdicate their option to decide for themselves, and the structure in which they live reinforces that abdication.

Book Description

For nearly two generations, social commentators and scholars have seen in Sweden a mirror of their own hopes and fears for the future. Proponents of economic and social democracy have been attracted by Sweden's egalitarian policies, while libertarians have expressed alarm at its corporatism and statism. In this account of Sweden's successful individual rights and collective responsibility, and its balance between equitable distribution and economic efficiency, Henry Milner portrays social democracy as a way of life. He sees it as a functioning social system embodying the principles of economic well-being, fair remuneration for work, social solidarity, democracy, participation, access to information, and respect for the environment in the way its members choose to act towards each other and live their lives.

Public Choice (Cambridge Surveys of Economic Literature)

Average customer rating:

Public Choice (Cambridge Surveys of Economic Literature)
Mueller
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0521295483

Reflexive Democracy: Political Equality and the Welfare State (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

Average customer rating:

Reflexive Democracy: Political Equality and the Welfare State (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)
Kevin Olson
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Civics | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0262151162

Book Description

Since the Reagan and Thatcher revolutions of the 1980s, there has been little consensus on what welfare ought to do or how it ought to function. At the same time, post-Wall continental Europe searches for a "third way" between state-planned socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. In Reflexive Democracy, Kevin Olson takes on this contemporary conceptual crisis. He calls for a "political turn" in considerations of the welfare state, arguing that it should no longer be understood in primarily economic terms--as a redistributive and regulatory mechanism--but in political terms, as a means of living up to deep-seated values of political equality. Drawing on arguments by T. H. Marshall and Jürgen Habermas, Olson proposes a conception of political equality as the normative basis of the welfare state. He argues that there are inextricable connections between democracy and welfare: the welfare state both promotes political equality and depends on it for its own political legitimacy. The paradox of political equality as a precondition for political equality is best solved, Olson argues, by guaranteeing citizens the means for equal participation. This is a reflexive conception of democracy, in which democratic politics circles back to sustain the conditions of equality that make it possible.

This view, Olson writes, is meant not to replace traditional economic concerns but to reveal deep interconnections between democratic equality and economic justice. It counters paternalistic ideas of welfare reform by focusing on citizen participation. This conception moves beyond simple equality in the possession of goods and resources to propose a rich, materially grounded conception of democratic equality.

What's Wrong with a Free Lunch? (New Democracy Forum)

Average customer rating:

Thought provoking
Iým up for a free lunch
Badly needed
Perfectly adequate

What's Wrong with a Free Lunch? (New Democracy Forum)
Philippe van Parijs , Joshua Cohen , and Joel Rogers
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition
Government In The Future (Open Media Pamphlet Series)
The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Writings from Lao Tzu to Milton Friedman
Real Freedom for All: What (if anything) can justify capitalism? (Oxford Politician Theory)

ASIN: 0807047139

Book Description

Our politicians insist that we live in a time of unprecedented prosperity, yet more and more Americans are pointing out that the richest 1% of our society holds more wealth than the bottom 90% put together. In this timely book, economist Philippe Van Parijs has a simple plan for addressing not only poverty but other social ills: everyone would be paid a universal basic income (UBI) at a level sufficient for subsistence. Everyone, including "those who make no social contribution-who spend their mornings bickering with their partner, surf off Malibu in the afternoon, and smoke pot all night." Van Parijs argues that a UBI would reduce unemployment, improve women's lives, and prevent the environmental damage caused by overproduction and fast growth. At the heart of his proposal is the intention to secure real freedom for all, because it offers the greatest possible opportunity to those with the least opportunities. He acknowledges that an idle surfer might not deserve a UBI, but that the surfer's good luck would be no different than the good fortune enjoyed by those who benefit from the current distribution of resources. Responses to this controversial proposal vary: Some are in favor of a basic income, but only if it's tied to work. Others find the entire proposal unrealistic and unaffordable. Almost all agree, however, that it is time for us to talk about this issue.

Customer Reviews:

Thought provoking.......2003-02-07

Philippe Van Parij's deceptively simple but powerful proposal is to establish a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all citizens of the U.S. Throughout the book's 130-odd pages, readers are challenged by Van Parij and 15 prominent respondents to critique the idea and to examine related core values and beliefs. The result is a book that has the rare virtue of being thought provoking; over time, it may prove to be widely influential as well.

What I found interesting is that the boldness of Van Parij's proposal succeeds in exposing the fact that much of what passes as conventional wisdom may be surprisingly vulnerable to radical critique. As the global economy continues to dramatically change labor's relationship to capital, it is clear that existing social welfare programs have been based on an imagined world that no longer exists. But while the neoliberal assault to dismantle the social safety net may not be just, it is widely acknowledged. Van Parij courageously demonstrates that change provides an opportunity for the Left to plausibly propose an agenda that moves in the opposite direction.

Ultimately, what at first glance might appear to be pie-in-the-sky thinking rapidly gains currency. On the whole, Van Parijs and his critics show that the UBI (or like policies) can provide a reasonable and humane solution for people adapting to life within today's hyper-competitive global market economy.

In short, I highly recommend this book for students or anyone else who may be interested in contemplating how a better society might come to pass.

Iým up for a free lunch.......2002-01-11

An essay by Philippe Van Parijs begins this book, in which he proposes that all citizens above the age of 16 be given a Universal Basic Income unconditionally. I must say that I've found this idea very fascinating for the past few years, but never thought seriously about it. The fifteen replies to Van Parijs' essay provide various perspectives on the political and economic feasibility of the plan, as well as on issues of justice and fairness.

The problem of this book lies in its very virtue of being a short, easy read that introduces the reader to what is considered a radical policy proposal. And this is that it doesn't provide much in the way of analysis beyond what one might read in a newspaper. Of course, there is a problem in being too academic: few people might read it, and the idea may not spread (though I doubt it will spread far anyway). Still, it's a fun concept to think about.

Badly needed.......2001-06-21

"What's Wrong With a Free Lunch" by Philippe Van Parijs proposes that every person be given an above-subsistence-level Universal Basic Income with no strings attached. The book includes responses from 15 thinkers, mostly sympathetic to the idea. A couple oppose the idea of letting anyone have anything for nothing (as if that were not already the case), and several suggest what they see as similar but better ideas. The majority of these are based on the idea that enacting a UBI in the United States is unlikely, not that it is undesirable.

This may be right, but even an unreasonable goal serves a very important purpose. Many of the right-wing ideas openly discussed in the media are, I dearly hope, unreasonable goals. But they serve the purpose of making somewhat-less-destructive ideas pass for "centrist." As long as the right wing proposes what it dreams of and the left wing proposes only what it thinks it can get in the foreseeable future, the "center" will be commonly placed further and further from what the left thought it could get. Van Parijis's book is exactly the sort of thing needed to break this defeatist pattern. We need to direct our energies to the achievable, yes, but we also have to dream -- or the achievable won't be.

I'm not convinced that some of the alternatives offered, such as a Negative Income Tax, are either more desirable or more feasible. And concentrating on how best to convince Americans to pay more income taxes is the wrong thing to be worried about.

Our first project should be to free up the tax dollars we are wasting. We should cut military spending, cut prison spending, cancel the wars on victimless crimes, cut highway spending, cut trash-removal spending, eliminate corporate welfare, tax pollution, tax the use of natural resources, tax corporations, tax the extremely rich, tax wealth, tax union busting, tax estates, eliminate the cap on payroll taxes, eliminate offshore banking, etc., etc. The idea that we need to devise a means of doing good that will most readily persuade a large segment of society to pay higher income taxes is hopelessly misguided. (And the idea that people won't want others to have free money while they "have to work for it" misses the whole point of the UBI: everybody gets it!)

What I find most attractive about a UBI is the hope that it would eliminate the most unattractive and lowest paying jobs. The response from certain parties will inevitably be that this will "hurt the very people it is intended to help," that certain people will be stuck with the UBI and nothing more because there are no jobs for them. But this same argument is made against raising minimum wages in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. A UBI would doubtless result in higher pay and better treatment for low-skilled workers, but it would also do something that a higher minimum wage does not: allow people to refuse fulltime work and pursue the acquisition of skills.

Here's an idea for a handout that does not stigmatize and actually boosts wages. Surely that's a more valuable trick than a "missile defense system" with a test record that would get it thrown out of the third grade.

Perfectly adequate.......2001-06-19

Having read _Real Freedom for All_, in which the author outlines his UBI proposal in detail, I purchased this volume in the hope of finding insightful commentary and sound criticism. Much to my chagrin, I was disappointed. While Edmund Phelps and Emma Rothschild had insightful essays, I didn't find very much in the way of dissent. Phelps certainly did disagree, but many of the others were just wailing like nettlesome grandmothers while conceding Van Parijs' point. Galston's essay left much to be desired, predictably enough. Couldn't they have asked a thoughtful critique on the Right? But again, this is certainly not awful. My favorite Boston Review forum remains Martha Nussbaum's _For Love of Country_, which did have a broad range of dissenting voices and is definitely worth checking out. If you are strictly interested in UBI or distributive justice, turn to _RFA_.

Average customer rating:

Democracy and Welfare Economics
Hans van den Doel , and Ben van Velthoven
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0521436370

Book Description

This is a fully revised and updated version of Hans van den Doel's Democracy and welfare economics. It presents the economic theory of political decision-making (otherwise know as new political economy, or public choice), providing students with an accessible and clear introduction to this important subjects.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books