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From Continental Public Finance to Public Choice: Mapping Continuity

From Continental Public Finance to Public Choice: Mapping Continuity the origins of the Continental orientation in the work of the cameralists, then describe the emergence of a distinct Continental orientation in the late nineteenth century, and close by noting how the development of public choice in the second half of the twentieth century is really a continuation of the Continental orientation toward public finance. A Complaint and a Quarrel: Framing the Disjunction In his 1896 treatise on public finance, Knut Wicksell ([1896] 1958, 82) complained that the theory of public finance “seems to have retained the assumptions of its infancy, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when absolute power ruled almost all Europe.” Absolute power is the possession of an autonomous ruler or state. Such a state might be ruthlessly despotic or it might be relatively benevolent, but it will be autonomous in any case. Sacrifice theories of taxation can be construed in this setting as recipes for the practice of benevolence toward ruled subjects. Wicksell argued that under parliamentary democracies it made no sense to regard subjects as being ruled, for they participated in their own governance through parliamentary institutions. For Wicksell, the challenge to fiscal theorizing was to map the contours of such governance when http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png History of Political Economy Duke University Press

From Continental Public Finance to Public Choice: Mapping Continuity

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References (47)

Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2005 by Duke University Press
ISSN
0018-2702
eISSN
1527-1919
DOI
10.1215/00182702-37-Suppl_1-314
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

the origins of the Continental orientation in the work of the cameralists, then describe the emergence of a distinct Continental orientation in the late nineteenth century, and close by noting how the development of public choice in the second half of the twentieth century is really a continuation of the Continental orientation toward public finance. A Complaint and a Quarrel: Framing the Disjunction In his 1896 treatise on public finance, Knut Wicksell ([1896] 1958, 82) complained that the theory of public finance “seems to have retained the assumptions of its infancy, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when absolute power ruled almost all Europe.” Absolute power is the possession of an autonomous ruler or state. Such a state might be ruthlessly despotic or it might be relatively benevolent, but it will be autonomous in any case. Sacrifice theories of taxation can be construed in this setting as recipes for the practice of benevolence toward ruled subjects. Wicksell argued that under parliamentary democracies it made no sense to regard subjects as being ruled, for they participated in their own governance through parliamentary institutions. For Wicksell, the challenge to fiscal theorizing was to map the contours of such governance when

Journal

History of Political Economy – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2005

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