'Studies in Indian Public Finance' presents a comprehensive analysis of public spending and its financing in India. The book underlines the need to contain deficits and debt.--
The book seeks to cover most aspects of the subject: public goods, externalities, social justice and redistribution, taxation and fiscal federalism and thus tries to provide a solid foundation on which critical thinking about the responsibilities and limitations of government can be based. Each chapter strives to study whether private sector could undertake the relevant activities in a more efficient and equitable way and thus if government involvement is really needed. Chapters conclude with selective, annotated reading list and questions for discussion. The reading lists contain anappropriate mixture of classical readings and the latest research findings. By drawing on insights from normative public finance, public choice, and new political economy, the book aims to give a boost to undergraduate and graduate teaching in public finance in an engaging, clear, and well-organized fashion. A significant contribution of the book is to strike a fine balancebetween normative and positive aspects of public finance.The book with be also be useful for students appearing for NET and competitive examinations such as IES and IAS.
Globalization and the information revolution have highlighted the catalytic role of local governments for improving economic and social outcomes at the local level as well as growing the national economy by enhancing international competitiveness. This comprehensive account of local public finance and economics brings together principles and better practices for improving quality and access of local public services provision. The volume covers assignment of responsibilities; jurisdictional design; local service delivery; local regulation; local self-financing options such as income, sales, property and environmental taxation, user charges and fees; infrastructure finance options; and higher order government financing of local governments. The treatment is non-technical and suitable for a wide variety of audiences including scholars, instructors, students, media, policy advisers and practitioners.
This handbook evaluates the persistent problems in the fiscal systems of state and local governments and what can be done to solve them. Each chapter provides a description of the discipline area, examines major developments in policy practices and research, and opines on future prospects.
"This collection of essays on the theory and development of public finance provides a comprehensive overview of the discipline and its evolution by a stellar international cast of contributors. In a substantive introduction, Amaresh Bagchi lucidly explains the basic issues that have emerged and discusses their treatment in the existing literature. The volume is divided into five thematic sections." "This reader is essential for students and teachers of public finance at the postgraduate and senior undergraduate levels. It will also be useful to academics and policymakers."--BOOK JACKET.
Health crises plague most economies irrespective of their average per capita income levels, and this is largely due to chronic and repeated illnesses. Contextualizing this paradigm in India, India Public Finance and Policy Report: Health Matters is an attempt to discuss some of the most crucial issues faced by Indian health sectors and to examine alternatives for policymakers to provide affordable, reliable, and effective healthcare facilities to the people. This report compares three government-run social health insurance schemes—the Swasthya Sathi Scheme, the Aarogyasri Community Insurance Scheme, and a community-based health insurance scheme—to examine their effectiveness in reducing households’ vulnerability to health shocks. Additionally, it brings to light the manipulation of health package deals by private hospitals to increase the amount patients spend on them. The report also estimates the inefficiencies across states and districts of India with regard to healthcare personnel and infrastructure. Moreover, the editors have put together a series of interviews with different stakeholders associated with the healthcare system, such as doctors, nurses, patients, and medical representatives, who discuss the problems that perturb this sector. Written in a lucid and non-technical language, this is a deeply researched theoretical and empirical commentary about healthcare and public polices in India.
And Evaluation of Local Automotive Taxation. 8. Other Urban Taxes. Policy Objectives. Local Income Taxes. General Sales Taxes. Local Taxes on Industry, Commerce, and Professions. "Terminal" Taxes. Local Sumptuary Taxes. Entertainment Taxes. Minor Local Taxes, Licenses, and Fees. Summary and Evaluation -- Pt. III. User Charges for Urban Services. 9. Issues in Pricing Urban Services. The Efficiency Argument for User Charges. Fiscal Considerations and Full Cost Pricing. Income Distribution Considerations. The Politics and Institutions of Public Service Pricing. 10. Charging for Urban Water Services. Pricing Water Supply Services. Sewerage and Drainage. Summary. 11. Charging for Other Urban Services. Electricity and Telephone Services. Collecting and Disposing of Solid Waste. Mass Transit. Housing. Development Charges -- Pt. IV. Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations. 12. The Structure of Urban Governance. Fiscal Decentralization. The National Structure of Urban Government.
This textbook equips instructors and students with an overview of the existing literature so that the latter can attain an overall understanding of macroeconomic and microeconomic public finance. The literature on public finance has grown dramatically with theoretical studies and empirical analysis, and much of the focus has been on macroeconomic effects of public services. The standard textbook offerings, however, are mainly restricted to microeconomic topics of public finance. This text intends to fill this gap by presenting a theoretical-based, comprehensive explanation of public finance. Particular emphasis is directed at developing tools that can be applied theoretically and empirically to clarify essential economic concerns in the current public sector in advanced countries, including Japan. Such concerns include the macroeconomic effect of fiscal policy, the dependence on bonds for covering government deficits, and social security reform. The main text explains the standard concepts of public finance, and the appendix offers various advanced topics. The material will facilitate an understanding of how to investigate changes in the public sector, interpret results, and basically do research on fiscal policy. The textbook will be of value to a broad range of course offerings, including those generally focused on fiscal policy, on social security reform and on tax reform.
Wenkai He shows why England and Japan, facing crises in public finance, developed the tools and institutions of a modern fiscal state, while China, facing similar circumstances, did not. He’s explanation for China’s failure at a critical moment illuminates one of the most important but least understood transformations of the modern world.