IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/eujhet/v17y2010i2p279-312.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

'Public goods' before Samuelson: interwar Finanzwissenschaft and Musgrave's synthesis

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Sturn

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the foundations of modern Public Economics, in particular of concepts related to the justification of public activities and the properties of public economy mechanisms. As a first approximation, Public Economics a la Musgrave can be understood as a synthesis of Pigovian Public Finance and the Wicksell-Lindahl tradition. Musgrave's intellectual background includes a more encompassing and differentiated spectrum of influences, including elements from German communal traditions, fiscal sociology, Austrian marginal utility theory, and Italian Public Finance. German language Finanzwissenschaft in the interwar period was a fertile environment for new combinations. German-educated US economists Richard Musgrave and Gerhard Colm transformed seeds from this environment into lasting achievements. Their acquaintance with the broad range of approaches characteristic of interwar Finanzwissenschaft was a necessary condition for the role they played in the development of modern Public Economics. Moreover, Musgrave's influence on modern Public Economics is an example of how the dissemination of innovations is enhanced by a suitable expository framework. By contrast, the conceptual gap between Anglo-Saxon Public Economics and Gerhard Colm's version of a synthesis (even though the latter influenced or paralleled the Musgravian synthesis in important respects) prevented its swift absorption.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Sturn, 2010. "'Public goods' before Samuelson: interwar Finanzwissenschaft and Musgrave's synthesis," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 279-312.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:17:y:2010:i:2:p:279-312
    DOI: 10.1080/09672560903320084
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09672560903320084
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09672560903320084?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mill, John Stuart, 1848. "Principles of Political Economy (II): Distribution," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 2, number mill1848-2.
    2. Mill, John Stuart, 1848. "Principles of Political Economy (III): Exchange," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 3, number mill1848-3.
    3. Mill, John Stuart, 1848. "Principles of Political Economy (I): Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 1, number mill1848-1.
    4. James M. Buchanan & Richard A. Musgrave, 1999. "Public Finance and Public Choice: Two Contrasting Visions of the State," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262024624, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Рубинштейн Александр Яковлевич, "undated". "Теория Опекаемых Благ И Патернализм В Экономических Теориях: Общее И Особенное [The Theory of Patronized Goods and the Paternalism in Economic Theories: General and Special]," Working papers a:pru175:ye:2015:1, Institute of Economics.
    2. Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay, 2014. "On the Definition of Public Goods. Assessing Richard A. Musgrave's contribution," Post-Print halshs-00951577, HAL.
    3. Richard Sturn, 2021. "Der Staat heute: Marktversagen und die Voraussetzungen öffentlicher Handlungsfähigkeit," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 47(1), pages 15-39.
    4. Aleksander Rubinstein, 2013. "The theory of patronized goods in the optics of comparative methodology," International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge, Center for International Scientific Research of VSO and VSPP, vol. 1(1), pages 4-32, December.
    5. Рубинштейн Александр Яковлевич, "undated". "Методологический Анализ Теории Опекаемых Благ: Научный Доклад [methodological analysis of the Theory of Patronized Goods. Research report]," Working papers a:pru175:ye:2014:1, Institute of Economics.
    6. Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay, 2017. "Paternalism and the public household. On the domestic origins of public economics," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01560189, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. McCloskey Deirdre Nansen, 2018. "The Two Movements in Economic Thought, 1700–2000: Empty Economic Boxes Revisited," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Eloi Laurent & Jacques Le Cacheux, 2006. "Integrity and Efficiency in the EU: The Case against the European economic constitution," Working Papers hal-00972707, HAL.
    3. Ian Keay, 2019. "Protection for maturing industries: Evidence from Canadian trade patterns and trade policy, 1870–1913," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 1464-1496, November.
    4. Dario Stevanato, 2017. "Tassazione progressiva, equit? del prelievo e Flat Tax," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 122-147.
    5. Melitz, Marc J., 2005. "When and how should infant industries be protected?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 177-196, May.
    6. Martimort, David, 1996. "The multiprincipal nature of government," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 673-685, April.
    7. Jacobsen, Catrine & Piovesan, Marco, 2016. "Tax me if you can: An artifactual field experiment on dishonesty," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 7-14.
    8. Vittorio Pelligra, 2013. "Trust," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Stefano Zamagni (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Reciprocity and Social Enterprise, chapter 40, pages 411-420, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Tsoulfidis, Lefteris & Alexiou, Constantinos & Parthenidis, Thanasis, 2015. "Revisiting profit persistence and the stock market in Japan," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 10-24.
    10. Lefteris Tsoulfidis & Persefoni Tsaliki, 2011. "Classical Competition and Regulating Capital: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Discussion Paper Series 2011_02, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Feb 2011.
    11. Jerry Kirkpatrick, 2004. "Reisman's Net Consumption, Net Investment Theory of Aggregate Profit," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 627-646, July.
    12. Frankman, Myron J., 1996. "International taxation: The trajectory of an idea from Lorimer to Brandt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 807-820, May.
    13. Robert Scherf & Matthew Weinzierl, 2020. "Understanding Different Approaches to Benefit‐Based Taxation," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 385-410, June.
    14. Hardle, Wolfgang & Kirman, Alan, 1995. "Nonclassical demand : A model-free examination of price-quantity relations in the Marseille fish market," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 227-257, May.
    15. Roy, Saktinil & Kemme, David M., 2020. "The run-up to the global financial crisis: A longer historical view of financial liberalization, capital inflows, and asset bubbles," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    16. B. Ravikumar & Raymond Riezman & Yuzhe Zhang, 2022. "Private Information and Optimal Infant Industry Protection," Working Papers 2022-013, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 18 Apr 2024.
    17. Han Gao & Mariano Kulish & Juan Pablo Nicolini, 2020. "Two Illustrations of the Quantity Theory of Money Reloaded," Working Papers 774, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    18. Leeson, Peter T., 2007. "Better off stateless: Somalia before and after government collapse," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 689-710, December.
    19. Wu, Yiyun & Zhu, Xiwei & Groenewold, Nicolaas, 2019. "The determinants and effectiveness of industrial policy in china: A study based on Five-Year Plans," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 225-242.
    20. Kuś Agnieszka, 2020. "The Importance of Innovation in the Development of Polish Business Gazelles," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 28(1), pages 32-51, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:17:y:2010:i:2:p:279-312. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/REJH20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.