This chapter reviews the theory of the voluntary public and private redistribution of wealth elaborated by economic analysis in the last forty years or so. The central object of the theory is altruistic gift-giving, construed as benevolent voluntary redistribution of income or wealth. The theory...

American Indian reservations are the poorest parts of the United States, and a higher percentage of Indian families across the country live below the poverty line than any other ethnic or racial sector. Indian nations and Indian peoples also suffer from the highest unemployment rates in the...

In 1965, Nobel laureate Edmund Phelps published his fable for growthmen, a seminal paper on what became known as the “golden rule of capital accumulation”. This paper takes up the same format – a fable − with a special focus on the link between economics and political science. We presume...

Veto institutions are often dominated by government opponents with rival electoral and policy interests (e.g. \divided government"). I investigate the tradeoff between policy control and policy blockade when both the government and the veto party may cater to opposing special interests. The...

From produce to wine, we only consume things when they are ready. The courts are no different. That concept of "readiness" is how courts address cases and controversies as well. Justiciability doctrines, particularly ripeness, have a particularly important role in takings challenges to...

We consider abstract social systems of private property, made of n individuals endowed with non-paternalistic interdependent preferences, who interact through exchanges on competitive markets and Pareto-efficient lumpsum transfers. The transfers follow from a distributive liberal social contract...

Kapitalizmin ismi, piyasa ekonomisine dönüşürken üreticilerin tüketiciler karşısında ikinci planda kalacağı beklenmekteydi. Ancak, zaman içerisinde, piyasalarda rekabetçi dengenin tüketici tercihlerince belirleneceğini öngören genel beklentilerin aksine, görüldü ki...

What is the proper scope of government? In this paper, I argue that efforts to define a clear and distinct boundary for the scope of government are misplaced. This argument takes two forms. First, and primarily, I set out a positive argument for a pragmatic approach. Given the complexity of...

Italian Abstract: L’articolo intende mostrare l’esistenza di un filo conduttore che attraversa la riflessione einaudiana sul pareggio di bilancio, e che va da "Le entrate pubbliche nello stato sabaudo" (1907) sino ad arrivare a "L'interpretazione dell’articolo 81 della Costituzione"...

There is now a considerable body of literature on decentralization in diverse national contexts. Ascertaining factors that drive local accountability and performance have been the key concerns of these studies. Diverse ethodological instruments and approaches have been used—from large-n...