Explorations in Public Sector Economics: Essays by Prominent Economists PDF
Preview Explorations in Public Sector Economics: Essays by Prominent Economists
Joshua Hall Editor Explorations in Public Sector Economics Essays by Prominent Economists Explorations in Public Sector Economics Joshua Hall Editor Explorations in Public Sector Economics Essays by Prominent Economists 123 Editor JoshuaHall Department ofEconomics West Virginia University Morgantown,WV USA ISBN978-3-319-47826-5 ISBN978-3-319-47828-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-47828-9 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016955917 ©SpringerInternationalPublishingAG2017 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinor foranyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland To Buchanan and Tullock and Downs and Riker and too many others to mention. We stand on your shoulders. Preface TheoriginsofthisbookgobacktoadinneratthehouseofLowellE.Gallaway.After dinner,LowellandIretiredtohisdenwhileourbetterhalvesstayedinthediningroom tochat.IhadonlyrecentlystartedmyacademiccareerandIwaseagertopickLowell’s brainaboutthepublicationprocess.Afterall,bythattimehehadonlypublishedinsix decades!MuchofourconversationfocusedonhisbookwithRichardK.Vedder,Out ofWork,andthedifficultytheyhadingettingsomeoftheindividualchapterspublished asrefereedjournalarticles.ThiscausedmetoaskLowellifheeverhadafavoritepaper thatnevergotpublishedinsomeform.Ofcoursehedidandhewasgladtogivemea yellow, faded copy of a 1979 working paper. While driving home that evening I thought about the paper sitting in my back seat. As far as I knew, the only copies that existed were hard copies in private hands.Whatashamethatotherscholarshadnowaytoaccesstheseinsights.Upon returninghome,IconfirmedthattheonlytracesofthepaperontheInternetwerein citationsinpapers published around thetime thepaperwas originally written. The fact that the paper was cited at the time suggests that the paper had value for scholars then and thus would be likely to have value for future scholars, if only those following the footnotes to papers published around 1980. I began to take notes of papers that were cited several times as conference presentations or working papers but never published. A public economist by training, these papers tended to be in the field of public economics, especially public choice. When I went to conferences and would talk to more experienced economists,Ibegantoaskthemiftheyhadafavoritepaperthatneverquitefounda home. Inevitably they did. Afterseveralyears,Ifoundmyselfinpossessionofeleveninterestingpapersby prominent economists on important topics in the area of public economics. These papershadnumerouscitationsandinsomecasessignificantmediaattentionandyet withoutinterventiontheymightbelosttohistory.Ataminimum,thefactthatmost of them were not available through libraries or the Internet meant that they could not be of use to scholars in public economics. Thus, this book was born, and I am incredibly grateful toSpringer and Lorraine Klimowichfor their help andpatience in bringing this product to fruition. vii viii Preface Thepapersinthisvolumedealwithissuesthatareatthecore oftheeconomics analysisof politics. Forexample,thevolumebegins witha paper onvotingbythe late Nobel Laureate Gary S. Becker and Casey B. Mulligan. Why people vote has been a prominent topic in the economic analysis of politics since before Downs seminal analysisinAn EconomicTheory of Democracy. Similarly,the concepts of public goods and externalities are taught in every undergraduate public economics class. Bruce L. Benson and Roger E. Meiners deepen our understanding of these topics with their respective chapters. The volume contains a variety of different methods—theory, empirical, experimental, and historical. However, they all speak to issues (e.g., political corruption, media and presidential voting, school compe- tition, and global warming) that are important parts of public policy and thus the field of public economics today. I hope you agree. Morgantown, WV, USA Joshua Hall September 2016 Acknowledgements IwouldliketothanktheCenterforFreeEnterpriseatWestVirginiaUniversityfor summer support that provided me with the time necessary to finish this project. I would like to thank Richard K. Vedder and Lowell E. Gallaway for introducing me to public sector economics as an undergraduate and graduate student at Ohio University. Kai Cher Tay andEricMason provided invaluable research assistance. ix Contents 1 Is Voting Rational or Instrumental? .... .... .... .... ..... .... 1 Gary S. Becker and Casey B. Mulligan 2 Public Choice Issues in International Collective Action: Global Warming Regulation.... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 13 Daniel Houser and Gary D. Libecap 3 TooInexpensivetoBeInexpensive:HowGovernmentCensorship Increases Costs by Disguising Them .... .... .... .... ..... .... 35 J.R. Clark and Dwight R. Lee 4 The Great Depression: A Tale of Three Paradigms.... ..... .... 51 Lowell E. Gallaway and Richard K. Vedder 5 Bad Economics, Good Law: The Concept of Externality..... .... 61 Roger E. Meiners 6 Why Would Bond Referenda Ever Fail? Do They?.... ..... .... 93 William S. Peirce 7 The Effect of Early Media Projections on Presidential Voting in the Florida Panhandle... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 109 Russell S. Sobel and Robert A. Lawson 8 Ballots, Bribes, and Brand-Name Political Capital. .... ..... .... 117 R. Morris Coats, Thomas R. Dalton and Arthur Denzau 9 The Effect of Inter-School District Competition on Student Achievement: The Role of Long-Standing State Policies Prohibiting the Formation of New School Districts. .... ..... .... 139 Katie Sherron and Lawrence W. Kenny xi xii Contents 10 The Endowment Effect in a Public Goods Experiment . ..... .... 153 Edward J. Lopez and William Robert Nelson Jr. 11 Are Roads Public Goods, Club Goods, Private Goods, or Common Pools? . .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 171 Bruce L. Benson
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