Handbook of Public Economics, Vol. 5

Preface

More than a decade has passed since the publication of the last volume of the Handbook of Public Economics, and with the evolution of the field and appearance of many important contributions there are many worthwhile topics to include in Volume 5.

The first chapter, by James Andreoni and Abigail Payne, considers the determinants of charitable giving. These include, of course, the tax price familiar from the classic public finance literature on the subject, but the more recent literature considers many novel issues to help us understand what gives rise to such potentially altruistic behavior.

In Chapter 2, Timothy Besley and Torsten Persson evaluate the role of taxation in economic development. A backdrop is the fact that mature developed ...