Ethics, Economics, and Politics Some Principles of Public Policy

by Little, I. M. D.

• ISBN13: 9780199257041
• ISBN10: 0199257043
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780191531408
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-12-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book studies the interfaces of ethics, economics, and politics. Public policy issues involve all three of these subjects. Although it may be seen as suggesting the nucleus of a joint university course, the book is accessible to and should interest all those concerned with politicaldecisions. Any such decision needs a criterion for judging whether one action or outcome is better than another. Even a dictator must to some extent be concerned about the economic elfare of the citizens; and a democratic government more so. But how is a person's economic welfare to be judged?Furthermore, any political decision affects the economic welfare of different people differently. How then is the welfare of a community to be judged? This is an ethical question. Underlying any coherent public policy there must be a relevant moral code.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements	vii
Introduction	ix
PART I. ECONOMICS AND PHILOSOPHY
Personal Utility and Welfare	3	(8)
Expected Utility and Risk	4	(1)
Risk and Fluctuations	5	(1)
Risk and Equality	6	(1)
Utility and Positive Economics	7	(1)
Utility and Normative Economics	8	(3)
Collective Utility and Welfare	11	(8)
Welfare Economics	19	(8)
Theoretical Welfare Economics	19	(3)
Applied Welfare Economics and Cost-Benefit Analysis	22	(5)
PART II. POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY
The Role of the State	27	(12)
Limitations of State Authority	28	(1)
Individual Rights	29	(3)
Social Contract and Property	32	(3)
Property and Property Rights	35	(4)
Utilitarianism: Theory and Applications	39	(14)
Utility and the Value of Life	42	(3)
The State and Population Policy	45	(4)
What Constituency Now?---On Citizens and Foreigners	49	(1)
The State and Saving for the Future	50	(3)
Utilitarianism, Justice, and Equality	53	(21)
Utilitarianism and Equality	54	(1)
Rawls's Theory of Justice	55	(4)
The Meaning of Justice	59	(2)
Distributive Justice	61	(3)
Interstate Distributive Justice	64	(1)
Dworkin and Equalizing Resources	65	(4)
The Measurement of Equality	69	(3)
Summary	72	(2)
Contractarianism	74	(10)
Communitarianism	84	(5)
PART III. ECONOMICS AND POLITICS
Introduction	88	(1)
Games, Conventions, and Public Goods	89	(12)
Games	89	(5)
Conventions	94	(1)
Public Goods and the State	95	(6)
Positive Political Economy	101	(22)
Endogenizing Government	101	(2)
Democratic and Authoritarian Government	103	(1)
Collective Choice and Voting	104	(5)
Economic Policy under Relatively Autonomous Government	109	(1)
Economic Policy under Democracy	110	(1)
Modelling Political Economy Explanations of Policies and Trends	111	(1)
The Political Economy of Protection in Industrialized Countries	112	(1)
The Growth of Government in Industrialized Countries	113	(3)
Protection and Import Substitution in Developing Countries	116	(1)
Policy Reform in Developing Countries	117	(4)
An Interim Jejune Report on Endogenizing Government	121	(2)
Normative Political Economy	123	(8)
Further Consideration of Government and Distribution	123	(3)
Rent-seeking and Corruption	126	(5)
PART IV. ETHICS, ECONOMICS, AND POLITICS
The Principles of Public Policy	131	(22)
A Resume of Parts I, II, and III	131	(8)
The Philosophical Framework	139	(4)
The Scale of Government Expenditure	143	(6)
The Boundaries of Public Policy	149	(4)
References	153	(6)
Index of Names	159	(2)
Index of Subjects	161