Handbook of Public Finance

Handbook of Public Finance

Handbook of Public Finance

Much of contemporary public finance can be described as being either
Wicksellian or Edgeworthian in character. In the former, fiscal phenomena
arise
through
complex
processes
of
exchange;
in the
latter,
they
arise
through acts of choice by some maximizing agent. This chapter traces
these alternative orientations in the history of thought as far back as the
Cameralists, compares these writers with Adam Smith, and contrasts the
Wicksellian and Edgeworthian orientations toward public finance.

Juergen G. Backhaus
Richard E. Wagner