Public Economics: Selected Papers by William Vickrey

by William Vickrey , Edited by Richard Arnott , Anthony B. Atkinson , Kenneth Arrow , Jacques H. Drèze

• ISBN13: 9780521597630
• ISBN10: 0521597633
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-02-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Nobel Prize winner the late William Vickrey was one of the truly important figures in contemporary economics. Over the past fifty-five years he has published several books and some 140 papers scattered over many journals. This book offers a thoughtful selection from these papers, organised so as to bring out the scope and yet the unity of the work. Vickrey has the unique distinction of having contributed, often seminally and always operationally, to all major branches of public economics. The papers collected here cover social choice and allocation mechanisms, taxation, pricing in public utilities and in urban transportation, urban economics, and macroeconomic policies. Each topic is introduced by one of the four editors, and the book is completed with a full annotated bibliography of Vickrey's work. For the first time, we have convenient access to a set of important, creative and stimulating contributions, which have helped shape the modern field of public economics. This is a fascinating overview of the field and of the life-time work of a great economist.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
William Vickrey	1	(10)
Jacques Dreze
Richard Arnott
Part I Social Choice and Allocation Mechanisms	11	(88)
Introduction	13	(2)
Kenneth Arrow
Measuring Marginal Utility by Reactions to Risk	15	(14)
Utility, Strategy, and Social Decision Rules	29	(26)
Counterspeculation, Auctions and Competitive Sealed Tenders	55	(30)
Auctions and Bidding Games	85	(14)
Part II Taxation	99	(88)
Introduction	101	(4)
Anthony Atkinson
Averaging of Income for Income Tax Purposes	105	(15)
Cumulative Averaging after Thirty Years	120	(15)
An Integrated Successions Tax	135	(16)
Expenditure, Capital Gains, and the Basis of Progressive Taxation	151	(20)
The Problem of Progression	171	(16)
Part III Marginal-Cost Pricing	187	(82)
Introduction	189	(8)
Jacques Dreze
Marginal-and Average-Cost Pricing	197	(19)
Some Objections to Marginal-Cost Pricing	216	(24)
Responsive Pricing of Public Utility Services	240	(12)
Airline Overbooking: Some Further Solutions	252	(17)
Part IV Pricing Urban Transportation	269	(64)
Introduction	271	(6)
Richard Arnott
A Proposal for Revising New York's Subway Fare Structure	277	(30)
Pricing in Urban and Suburban Transport	307	(13)
Congestion Theory and Transport Investment	320	(13)
Part V Urban Economics	333	(56)
Introduction	335	(4)
Richard Arnott
The City as a Firm	339	(11)
General and Specific Financing of Urban Services	350	(34)
The Impact on Land Values of Taxing Buildings	384	(5)
Part VI Macroeconomic Policy	389	(66)
Introduction	391	(6)
Jacques Dreze
The Optimum Trend of Prices	397	(13)
Design of a Market Anti-Inflation Program	410	(11)
Necessary and Optimum Government Debt	421	(11)
Today's Task for Economists	432	(23)
Part VII Miscellany	455	(72)
Introduction	457	(4)
Richard Arnott
Resource Distribution Patterns and the Classification of Families	461	(33)
On the Prevention of Gerrymandering	494	(6)
One Economist's View of Philanthropy	500	(27)
Bibliography of William Vickrey	527