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Public Economics after The Idea of Justice

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  • A. B. Atkinson

Abstract

In this first lecture in honour of Amartya Sen, I examine the lessons that can be drawn from The Idea of Justice for public economics and the extent to which public economics has already moved in the direction advocated by Sen. More specifically, I focus on the current fiscal austerity programmes, and how the tools of public economics can be used to contribute to public reasoning about such programmes. I argue that they can help us think about the balance between cutting spending and raising taxes, and about the key role of public investment. But the Sen critique of welfare economics mean that we have to re-think public economics. The subject has been slow to absorb new ideas for the evaluative basis, and public economics, while extending its positive analysis to allow for international interactions, has failed to develop a normative approach to global justice.

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  • A. B. Atkinson, 2012. "Public Economics after The Idea of Justice," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 521-536, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:13:y:2012:i:4:p:521-536
    DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2012.703171
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    1. Andrew Barnard & Steve Howell & Robert Smith, 2011. "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income, 2009/10 ‐ Further analysis and methodology," Economic & Labour Market Review, Palgrave Macmillan;Office for National Statistics, vol. 5(6), pages 1-95, June.
    2. Ahmad,Etisham & Stern,Nicholas, 1991. "The Theory and Practice of Tax Reform in Developing Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521265638, January.
    3. A. B. Atkinson (ed.), 1991. "Modern Public Finance," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 527.
    4. Kenneth J. Arrow & Herve Raynaud, 1986. "Social Choice and Multicriterion Decision-Making," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262511754, April.
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    1. Séverine Deneulin and Jhonatan Clausen, 2018. "Collective Choice and Social Welfare by Amartya Sen:A Review Essay with Reference to Development in Peru," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp113.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Wolfson, Dirk J., 2014. "Who gets what in environmental policy?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 8-14.
    3. Nax, Heinrich H. & Balietti, Stefano & Murphy, Ryan O. & Helbing, Dirk, 2015. "Meritocratic matching can dissolve the efficiency-equality tradeoff: the case of voluntary contributions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65443, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Gordon Anderson & Teng Leo & Robert Muelhaupt, 2014. "Measuring Advances in Equality of Opportunity: The Changing Gender Gap in Educational Attainment in Canada in the Last Half Century," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 73-99, October.
    5. Gordon Anderson & Maria Grazia Pittau & Roberto Zelli, 2020. "Measuring the progress of equality of educational opportunity in absence of cardinal comparability," METRON, Springer;Sapienza Università di Roma, vol. 78(2), pages 155-174, August.

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