economists had done "work of high quality and great quantity in the field of taxation," the theory of public expenditure had been … inquiries. Indeed, by the mid-1980s the 'public expenditure theory' lacuna lamented by Samuelson had largely been filled with … the theories of public goods, externalities, marginal-cost cum peak-load pricing. This paper documents and attempts to …

Adam Smith turned economic theory on its head in 1776 when he declared that the pursuit of self-interest mediated by … controversy in modern economics from Smith to today. He traces the theory of market failure from the 1840s through the 1950s and …