The Economics of Government: Complexity and the Practice of Public Finance

Public finance is an important branch of economics. Over the years it has become more important, more controversial, and more complex. Much of the academic writing on it is highly theoretical, and it is often done by economists who have had little real world experience. Vito Tanzi has been continually engaged in this field for almost six decades, as a professor of public finance, a practitioner of it in many countries, and as a researcher, and has witnessed first-hand the growing gap betwee...