Public Economics

This book provides convenient access to a selection of Nobel prizewinner William Vickrey's papers, which have helped shape the modern field of public economics.

Introduction: William Vickrey Jacques Drèze and Richard Arnott; Part I. Social Choice and Allocation Mechanisms: Introduction Kenneth Arrow; 1. Measuring marginal utility by reactions to risk; 2. Utility, strategy and social decision rules; 3. Counterspeculation, auctions and competitive sealed tenders; 4. Auctions and bidding games; Part II. Taxation: Introduction Anthony Atkinson; 5. Averaging of income for income tax purposes; 6. Cumulative averaging after thirty years; 7. An integrated successions tax; 8. Expenditure, capital gains and the basis of progressive taxation; 9. The problems of progression; Part III. Marginal Cost Pricing: Introduction Jacques Drèze; 10. Marginal and average cost pricing; 11. Some objections to marginal cost pricing; 12. Responsive pricing of public utility services; 13. Airline overbooking: some further solutions; Part IV. Pricing Urban Transportation: Introduction Richard Arnott; 14. A proposal for revising New York's subway fare structure; 15. Pricing in urban and suburban transport; 16. Congestion theory and transport investment; Part V. Urban Economics: Introduction Richard Arnott; 17. The city as a firm; 18. General and specific financing of urban services; 19. The impact on land values of taxing building; Part VI. Macroeconomic Policy: Introduction Jacques Drèze; 20. The optimum trend of prices; 21. Design as a market anti-inflation program; 22. Necessary and optimum government debt; 23. Today's tasks for economists; Part VII. Miscellany: Introduction Richard Arnott; 24. Resources distribution patterns and the classification of families; 25. On the prevention of gerrymandering; 26. One economist's view of philanthropy; Bibliography of William Vickrey.