Public Sector Economics

“Richard Tresch’s graduate textbook, Public Finance, A Normative Theory is now the standard reference for graduate courses in public economics. He has now written an equally impressive textbook for use in undergraduate courses in public economics. His writing is clear, informative, and illuminating, and the text contains many new and useful insights. I look forward to using it in my own classes.” - Professor James Alm, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, Editor of Public Finance Review “This is a terrific book. It makes much of the material in Tresch’s former graduate textbook available to undergraduate students, adding a good balance between the fundamental theoretical perspectives and real life policy issues.” Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Professor of Economics and Director of International Studies, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University “This text provides a detailed, and yet clear and refreshingly systematic, treatment of most of the major issues in modern public economics. It will be a very useful, up-to-date resource for students as well as researchers and policy practitioners.” - Dr Miltiadis Makris, University of Leicester “The great strengths of this book are its unifying framework, its maximum use of graphical illustrations and minimal use of mathematics, whilst maintaining a high level of rigour. It will be excellent tool for teaching students the basic issues and problems in public sector economics and to train them to think as an economist.” - Associate Professor Loek Groot, Utrecht University “Tresch’s Public Sector Economics provides a thorough treatment of the field in a way that is less daunting for students taking an undergraduate course. He clearly explains the core topics in public expenditure theory and policy, and in tax theory and policy. And the text also introduces the emergent field known as behavioural public sector economics. But probably the most appealing feature in Tresch’s book is that it provides detailed examples illustrating real-life issues via an internet site, in effect lifting the space constraint limiting such expositions in printed texts. I foresee that students and teachers will welcome this innovative way of explaining how to use the tools for the economic analysis of government.” - Dr Jose R. Sanchez-Fung, Kingston University London

Richard W. Tresch is Professor in the Department of Economics, Boston College, USA. He is author of Public Finance: A Normative Theory (Academic Press) and Principles of Economics (Thompson). His abilities as a teacher were recognized by the award of the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.