This paper discusses the role that the economics of uncertainty has played in the theory of public finance. From being mostly concerned with its choice-theoretic foundations in the 1950s and ‘60s, the theory of expected utility maximization and risk averse behaviour has contributed decisively...

This chapter discusses the effects of taxation on savings and risk taking. The effects of taxation on the volume and composition of private saving has traditionally been considered one of the central questions in public finance. From a policy point of view one can point to a series of arguments...