Book Description

Now available in paperback, his encyclopedic volume quantifies and describes the detail of local fiscal practices in developing countries and the most common data problems that arise in cross-national analysis. Proven to be an important resource for the study of urban finance, it remains one of the most comprehensive reviews of municipal financing in developing countries to date. ... Read more

Book Description

Published in 1935, at the depth of the Depression, A World in Debt is a powerful indictment of the debt system. Is is written in eloquent but non-technical language with profuse use of clasical sources. With a foreword and a commentary by Albert D. Friedberg, the republisher, a noted currency and commodities analyst and seculator. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Must Read....
This is the 1935 classic which tells you, like you've never heard before, just what debt really is, how it works, and why it can bring down any civilization. As good, if not better, than Andrew Dickson White's 'Fiat Money Inflation in France'. Believe me, these will knock your socks off! ... Read more

Book Description

This book examines two eras of Chinese history that have commonly been viewed as periods of state disintegration or retreat. And they were--at the central level. When re-examined at the local level, however, both are revealed as periods of state building. In both the Nanjing decade of Guomindang rule (1927-1937) and the early post-Mao reform era (1980-1992), both national and local factors shaped local state building and created variations in local state structures and practices. This book focuses on one key area of the state, taxation and public finance, to trace the processes of local state building in these two eras. Using the records of local tax and finance offices in the Tianjin area and in Guangdong province, the author maps the process by which these county-level offices grew.

This book highlights variation in local state structures and practices between localities and between the central and local governments. As the author shows, this variation is important because it results in regional differences in state-society relations and affects central state capacity in terms of the local state's ability to implement central state policies as well as its own.

Book Description

Public sector orientations to planning, community and social development, or local economic development often overlook the money end of the project and focus almost exclusively on the social good. Unfortunately, plans do not materialize without money. This book takes a "hands-on" approach as it guides the reader through the steps of securing the funds necessary to meet community needs for cost effective services and facilities. It examines the fundamentals of financing local economic development from the perspectives of both the private and public sector. It shows how to link public community funding and private marketplace funding and describes how private development can incorporate community programs as an asset to a development project or programs. An easy read, the book includes numerous examples, eight real-world cases, a glossary of terms, and a model local economical development business plan.

Book Description

Drawing heavily on contributing cultural and ethnic factors, this book analyzes Miami's fiscal insolvency since 1996 and describes what led to the financial crisis, the explanations for the crisis, and the reasons for a slow recovery. Comparing Miami's insolvency with the earlier fiscal crises in Philadelphia, New York City, and Orange County, CA, the authors investigate Miami's economic climate. In conclusion, the authors consider Miami's outlook for the future in both political and economic terms. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The Ministry is Peter Hartcher's fascinating look into Japan's most powerful, but least known institution, the Ministry of Finance. It's an institution that's firmly embedded in Japan's cultural fabric and can trace its origins back 1200 years. It's been compared to the IRS, the SEC, the Federal Reserve, and U.S. Treasury all rolled into one. And it's largely responsible for the economic mess that Japan finds itself in today.

Hartcher's account is the story of a ministry who arranges marriages for its key personnel, a place where employees rarely go home, and where staff members routinely die of exhaustion caused by overwork. Hartcher shows that even though the Ministry's nationalistic policies have helped to create phenomenally low unemployment, its resistance to open markets and increasing incompetence is a dangerous liability, not only to its own economy, but the global economy as well. Anyone who's interested in how Japan really works will find this an indispensable read. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Computing Japan Magazine Book Review (Nov 98)
Hartcher is an editor for the Australian Financial Review, and his expose on the Ministry of Finance offers the first in-depth look in English at one of the most powerful and least understood elements of Japan, Inc. This is an essential book to read if you want to comprehend the (incomprehensible) bureaucracies that call the shots in Japan.

This One Digs Deep!
The entangling bureaucracy that keeps a chokehold on Japan is exposed at last! I doubt if the Japanese Ministry of Finance wants you to read this one! Hartcher not only exposes how the bureaucracy works but also explains why Japan will always face an uphill battle until it is conquered. An excellent look at the ceremonial democracy that manages Japan!

Ministry of Finance
I read this book before being seconded into the Japanese Ministry of Finance, and I'm afraid that not only has much of the material suffered badly from the passage of time, but the (perhaps inevitable) selective use of anecdotes risks leaving the unwary reader with a rather warped view of the MoF.

The workings of the Japanese political system and the bureaucracy have been subject to many critiques however, although Hartcher limits himself to examining just the MoF, he does not sufficiently focus his analysis to produce a truly enlightening text. Sadly, certain areas of the book are also subject rather exaggerated and, while such liberties may help make dramatic titles and sell copy, they do not make for informed debate.

Although there are very few other English language texts that focus on the MoF, this one is not scholarly and I would advise you to skip it (there is another book on MoF by Brown - available on Amazon - but I have not read it yet). Gerald Curtis provides more insightful comment into Japanese politics, and Takatoshi Ito offers a far better review of the workings of the Japanese economy. These texts may be more general, but they will give readers a more balanced and rounded view of the Japanese political and economic system.

A fascinating peek inside the inner-workings of the MOF
Very informative, very revealing, very insightful!

Hartcher leaves no stone unturned in his mission to detail the power base assembled at the Ministry.

great insights into a world that few ever see
fantastic investigative reporting with compelling analysis. as easy to read as a good spy thriller and as informative as a good textbook. valuable reading for anyone interested in Japanese finance and the relationship between bureaucrats, politicians, and business.

read the first chapter on amazon.com and you'll be hooked. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

Comprehensive
With the search among investors for higher yield and with the asset class being one of the notable outperformers in the recent equity market upturn, Santiso's book on emerging markets (notably Latam) could not have arrived at a more opportune time. Generally speaking, it overviews the most significant empirical findings associated with emerging markets over the past two to three years, locating them within the context of a number of distinct themes. So if one is looking for a comprehensive treatment of the asset class, notably from an academic's perspective, this book is well worth the read. The editor's synopsis is accurate in terms of its overview of the main contents of the book.
The only problem I had with the piece is the editing job. There are a few spelling mistakes, misplaced uses of punctuation, and the odd sentence that must be read several times in order to realise its main import. I suspect if a proper editing job was undertaken in the main text (the footnotes are superb and very informative)the quality of the book would be enhanced significantly.
The book is probably of less use to practitioners but this was probably not Santiso's intent. In any case, thoughtful fund managers or equity strategists would clearly find the book informative, probably compelling them to conduct further readings in the literature noted in the footnotes.

Comprehensive
With the search among investors for higher yield and with the asset class being one of the notable outperformers in the recent equity market upturn, Santiso's book on emerging markets (notably Latam) could not have arrived at a more opportune time. Generally speaking, it overviews the most significant empirical findings associated with emerging markets over the past two to three years, locating them within the context of a number of distinct themes. So if one is looking for a comprehensive treatment of the asset class, notably from an academic's perspective, this book is well worth the read. The editor's synopsis is accurate in terms of its overview of the main contents of the book.
The only problem I had with the piece is the editing job. There are a few spelling mistakes, misplaced uses of punctuation, and the odd sentence that must be read several times in order to realise its main import. I suspect if a proper editing job was undertaken in the main text (the footnotes are superb and very informative)the quality of the book would be enhanced significantly.
The book is probably of less use to practitioners but this was probably not Santiso's intent. In any case, thoughtful fund managers or equity strategists would clearly find the book informative, probably compelling them to conduct further readings in the literature noted in the footnotes. ... Read more

Book Description

In the past two decades powerful economic, social, and fiscal forces have buffeted America's major cities. The urbanization of poverty, the shift in employment from manufacturing to services, middle-class flight to the suburbs and Sunbelt, the tax revolt, and cuts in federal aid have made it difficult for many cities to pay for such basic services as police and fire protection, sanitation, and roads.

In "America's Ailing Cities" Helen F. Ladd and John Yinger identify and measure the impact of these broad national trends. Drawing on data from 86 major cities, they offer a rigorous and innovative analysis of urban fiscal conditions. Specifically, they determine the impact of a wide range of factors that lie outside municipal control, including a city's basic economic structure and state-determined fiscal institutions, on a city's underlying fiscal health-- the difference between potential revenue and the expenditure needed to finance public services of acceptable quality. Concluding that the fiscal health of America's cities has worsened since 1972, the authors call for new state and federal urban policies that direct assistance to the neediest cities. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Talk about useless
This book has no proper indexing. There's no geographic index (so you can't find grants targeted to your state) and no subject index (so you can't find grants targeted to your need - ie capital improvements, education, etc). You would need to read every single entry in the book to find all the grants that could be applicable. ... Read more

Book Description

This authoritative book offers more than seven million holders of tax-exempt securities, stockbrokers, and all others interested in the future of municipal finance the tools to evaluate the safety of municipal securities. Revised and completely up to date, the Second Edition discusses the long-range implications of the property tax revolt and its effect on municipal finance. It provides the necessary information to help the readers analyze such important trends as population shifts, social and economic characteristics, the political climate, cash flow, revenues, taxes per capita, pension obligations, and many others. What's more, there are now new sections covering transportation bonds, education bonds, solid waste and resource recovery bonds, bonds for infrastructure purposes, bonds with market-related financing options, and municipal analysis. ... Read more

Book Description

In many parts of the world, lower levels of government are taking over responsibilities from national authorities. This often leads to difficulty in maintaining fiscal discipline. So-called soft budget constraints allow these subnational governments to expand expenditures without facing the full cost. Until now, however, there has been little understanding of how decentralization leads to large fiscal deficits and macroeconomic instability.

This book, based on a research project at the World Bank, develops an analytical framework for considering the issues related to soft budget constraints, including the institutions, history, and policies that drive expectations for bailouts among subnational governments. It examines fiscal, financial, political, and land market mechanisms for subnational discipline in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Norway, South Africa, Ukraine, and the United States.

The book concludes that the dichotomy between market and hierarchical mechanisms is false. Most countries--and virtually all developing countries--must rely on market mechanisms as well as hierarchical constraints to maintain fiscal discipline. When bailouts cannot be avoided, they present important opportunities to reform underlying institutions. Successful market discipline--where voluntary lenders perform important monitoring functions--is most likely to emerge from a gradual process that begins with carefully crafted rules and oversight. ... Read more

Book Description

A valuable resource aimed at helping Michigan citizens and legislators understand the state's K-12 school finance system. ... Read more

Book Description

Measured at the staggering amount of $5.1 trillion (and growing every day) the national debt is unfathomable to most Americans. What we may not realize is that the United States was born out of debt. After the Revolution, the brilliant Alexander Hamilton was less interested in paying down the Revolutionary war debt than in using it to create a vibrant national economy. "If it is not excessive," he declared, "a national debt will be to us a national blessing."In a fascinating narrative brimming with colorful characters, historical accidents, and American ingenuity, business historian John Steele Gordon leads us on a tour of an American institution whose largely unknown story has been integrally entwined with our country's destiny. At key points in U.S. history, Gordon shows how the national debt has been a potent instrument of fiscal policy in keeping the world safe for democracy.But how much debt is too much? At a time when we despair of balancing even a single year's budget, Hamilton's Blessing provides much needed perspective - and hope.* Author writes the "Business of America" column in American Heritage magazine and is heard often on public radio's "Marketplace." ... Read more

Reviews (9)

An insightful look into the making of the national debt
I tip my hat to Mr. Gordon for providing a compelling short history of national debt, and how it has been shaped by tariffs, taxation and ever-increasing spending that has run amok in recent decades. It is a fascinating study into the competing visions of fiscal responsibility, notably the balanced budget extolled by Jeffersonians, which has actually been achieved on numerous occasions, versus deficit spending espoused by Hamiltonians, and of which John Maynard Keynes became the leading exponent in the inter-wars years between WWI and WWII.

While debts traditionally run high during wars, Gordon notes that since WWII, the yearly budget has rarely been balanced. It is during this time that Keynesian theory took hold and in Gordon's view led to a budget deficit that quickly spun out of control as entitlement programs took up fully three-quarters of the yearly budget. These programs have been virtually untouchable, but in 1995 (the point to which Gordon takes his history) a new reckoning emerged with the Republican landslide in Congress. Bill Clinton duly responded by proposing a balanced budget.

Gordon is a fiscal conservative, but recognizes the need to run in the red during hard economic times. He notes that this was Hoover's mistake at the onset of the Great Depression, as he continued to push for a balanced budget despite warnings that it would make the recession worse. However, the federal deficit, which has mushroomed to over $5 trillion, threatens to bankrupt many of the entitlement programs including social security.

Intersting Little Book on US Fiscal History
John Steele Gordon is an excellent writer, one whom I have enjoyed very much in the pages of American Heritage and who wrote a nifty history of Wall Street called "The Great Game."

This book, "Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt" is a good, if brief, overview of the fiscal history of the American government. It is somewhat misnamed, since the National Debt serves as a background and tie in to each period of fiscal history studied.

The author does a superb job of explaining Alexander Hamilton's establishment of our financial, banking, debt and money system. Here is a woefully under appreciated founder explained succinctly and whose brilliance and indispensability are brought forth by Gordon.

Descriptions of attitudes towards and major changes in financial policy and tools follow. Gordon covers the major aspects: the struggle over the Second National Bank, Jackson's paying off the debt (the only time the US Gov't has been debt free), Lincoln and Chase's tax, greenback and bond finance of the Civil War, the long fight to establish the income tax, the fight over high marginal rates and an efficient system of taxation, and the change in view in the last century from one that deficits and debt were something to be controlled to our current sorry state of view whereby no one worries about much about deficits anymore.

Debt, when properly used, has allowed us to primarily wage wars. It was retired in times of peace. We face an interesting time now, when debt as a percentage of GDP is much higher than it has been in most peacetimes. This raises the question that if we have to fight a truly massive and long war in the future, will we have the capacity to borrow what we need (based on historic statistics, it is a question well worth pondering).

Gordon finishes the book with a polemic against the political culture that has lost its way in terms of providing an efficient and fair and economically sound system of taxation and the willingness to moderate the nation's debt.

This is a good and interesting book. Anyone looking for a succinct telling of the development of our government's fiscal structure will appreciate this gem.

A Good Primer on the History of U.S. Fiscal Policy
Just two years ago, John Steele Gordon's book on the history of the U.S. federal debt would have seemed dated, even though it was published in 1997. After more than twenty consecutive years of operating in the red, the U.S. federal government had not only erased its annual deficits and began paying down the debt, but surpluses were projected over the next ten years.

This is no longer the case. A tax cut, the war on terrorism, and a slowdown in the economy have combined to push the U.S. government's outlays above its revenues. They have also made this book -- "Hamilton's Blessing" -- relevant again.

Gordon's book is two things: 1) a basic history describing the twists and turns of U.S. fiscal policy over the last two hundred-plus years and 2) a political tract condemning the latest turn U.S. fiscal policy has taken since the Great Society.

By combining the two, Gordon seeks to show that the most recent practice of U.S. fiscal policy -- that of habitually running deficits in peacetime -- is not only unprecedented in U.S. history, but also, more importantly, unsupported by any sound theory of economics.

"Hamilton's Blessing" is well-written and interesting. The book is only slightly marred by a lack of detail in some areas. How exactly does a large public debt hurt your average citizen and by how much? We never find out.

Gordon also should have kept his own political bent out of the book. Among other things, he spends three pages in a less than 200-page book detailing Jack Kemp's personal and political history, including his football career. All very interesting, but not really relevant to the history of the U.S. debt.

Good Background on the Origin of our Nation's Debt
This book is detailed, but easy to read, giving a good background on how our national debt came to be what it is today. Teh book also covers several of the more popular schools of thought on economics, specifically the teachings of John Maynard Keynes, the namesake of Keynesian Economics. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned our government's inability to pay down the national debt as that debt is known as "Hamilton's Blessing."

Loses something towards the end
This book starts out very good with an insightful depiction of Hamilton's initial achievement, but gets progressively weaker as it advances into the present, as the author begins to lose interest in the historical importance of the debt and concentrates more on his polemic against the tax system. While he makes some very valid points about the Byzantine complexity of the revenue code, to me he did not draw a clear enough connection between this and the central topic. Although Gordon shows that the current debt is very different in origin from obligations of the past, his depiction of the events since World War II is altogether too skimpy. He also does not do enough to distinguish between the so-called "publicly held debt" and the debt held by other government accounts (such as Social Security), a relatively new cleavage with highly significant ramifications for fiscal policy. Finally, and this is certainly not the author's fault, the book has become just a bit dated with the projection of large surpluses and the current debate over their best use--perhaps a new edition is forthcoming. All in all, Hamilton's blessing will provide useful insights for those interested in fiscal policy, but the book could have been much better than it is. ... Read more

Book Description

This book analyzes why local officials in China comply with investment-reduction and inflation-control policies of the central government against their own economic interests. The book shows the importance of political institutions, and provides a political story as to why China has been able to control inflation and to deepen reforms, in contrast to the former Soviet Union. While most other studies focus on the economic or political aspects, Inflation and Investment Controls in China integrates political and economic analysis. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Breaking new ground
China specialists, and political scientists of any stripe studying "state capacity" would do well to check this book out.

Businesspeople or others negotiating with local governments may also want to have a look at the chapters describing the ways that the central government can curtail local autonomy.

Many observers of China have interpreted the decentralization of economic authority to local governments as representing a loss of power for the central government. In this book, Huang carefully lays out the objectives of politicians at the central and provincial levels, and the control systems available to the center. He then uses economic data on inflation and investment to demonstrate that, at least for this one aspect, the central government has in fact been able to use its political tools to rein in provincial leaders when necessary.

This book is exemplary for its careful generation of hypotheses, and testing of these using publicly available, reasonably objective data. ... Read more

Book Description

Must we resign ourselves to a growing chasm between rich and poor?Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott propose an innovative alternative in this thought-provoking book: an eighty thousand dollar grant for every qualifying young adult. The authors analyze this plan from many perspectives and argue that such a citizen's stake would open the way to a society that is more democratic, productive, and free. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Brilliant and Flawed
In an outstanding new book called the Stake holder society, Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott propose having the government give every American $80,000 in their early twenties. This would be funded by a two percent tax on wealth above $80,000. They also suggest a privilege tax on those who have had financially privileged childhoods. These proposals are carefully thought out and well motivated by the idea of giving some substance to our common empty talk of "equality of opportunity."

Ackerman and Alstott dismiss a number of other approaches, such as funding education better or raising minimum wages as too small and/or actually harmful and/or politically difficult. Unhappily, I'm inclined to think that their proposals are just as politically difficult.

And I have a quibble with the digs scattered through this book against "utilitarians," who are never named. As in all American ethical arguments, the example used is that of Nazi Germany, where Jews were one percent of the population. "[I]s it so clear," the authors ask, "that the average Jew suffered NINETY-NINE times as much as the average Aryan gained from his feelings of racial superiority?"

One response to this is that feelings like those often involve hatred, which, being unpleasant, is not a gain at all. But, even accepting that there was a gain for many racists, the trade-off is not necessary. The racists could have felt superior without killing anyone, an action which, if completed, would have deprived them of the allegedly beneficial presence of people they perceived as inferiors.

More importantly, these numbers (one and ninety-nine units of pleasure or suffering) do not mean anything. We could give a vivid description of the concentration camps and then ask "Isn't it abundantly clear that the average Jew suffered at least ninety-nine times as much as the average Aryan gained from his feelings of racial superiority?" The case for this "calculation" is exactly as good as for its opposite.

The value of utilitarianism lies not in calculations (calculations which Ackerman and Alstott accept while trying to dismiss) but in placing the well-being of people above adherence to any rule. Utilitarianism ought to be an ally of anyone who recognizes the harm done by devotion to certain rights and freedoms, such as the freedom to engage in unfair and cruel labor practices, the "right to work", and the faith that people have what they "deserve."

And don't get me started on the way readers of Foucault tend to characterize Bentham...

I've encountered two arguments against the Stake holder society. The first, which is well addressed in the book, is that some people would waste their $80,000. I agree with the authors that relatively few would waste their money, and that many would be much better off than they are now. I find that people who make this criticism are not themselves suggesting an alternative remedy to the drastic disparity in wealth in America, and are not even aware of it. In many cases, they profess a belief that there is no hunger in this country, that people only suffer if they don't work, and that everyone has a chance to make it.

The second argument I've encountered is that charity must be done "privately," that is, without the government. In some cases, advocates of private charity support huge organizations known for as much corruption and inefficiency as any government, real or imagined. In other cases, they support only one-on-one charity without any intervening (or skilled, organized, or powerful) agency. Often in supporting these charities, government -haters make clear that they do know that hunger exists in America, if not that people working 60 hours a week can qualify for food stamps (temporarily, of course).

Sometimes supporters of private charity argue that the way to help is to teach entrepreneurism, apparently oblivious to the pertinent absence of capital. Other times they argue for simply giving fish instead of fishing skills. After all, this is good for the giver, and the poor will always be with us.

Why do private and public charity need to be in conflict? I give some tiny amounts to organizations and to people I meet on the street, and I simultaneously argue for living wage laws, campaign finance reform, an end to corporate welfare and waste on weapons, spies, highways, and subsidies for cutters of national forests. I will now argue for a Stake holder society without feeling any conflict with dropping some canned food in a basket or helping build Habitat for Humanity houses.

If private charity were doing the job, no one would propose government charity (and vice versa). And a lot of what is proposed amounts to government neutrality. Many of our taxes are regressive. Our services are unevenly distributed, notably in education. And we have the money. Just yesterday (May 6, 1999) we threw an extra $13 billion at the Pentagon. That kind of money could end many debates over education by providing better schools in poor counties and cities. Our cities routinely give huge tax-breaks to companies that move to certain areas promising jobs that no one ever bothers to make sure are actually provided. These funds could be better spent.

And isn't it important that the top one percent of wealthy people in the U.S. could end poverty and still live like emperors? Need I be selfish and hypocritical and out-of-line to mention this fact. I don't think so. I cannot myself reach into my pocket and end poverty. I would if I could. By all means, let's have lots of private charity and local assistance. But let's think bigger than that too.

A truly novel idea
The idea at first sounds crazy, but trying to figure out why will force you to examine many of your own opinions--and perhaps ultimately to reach a different conclusion than your first.

An interesting - and new - idea. But, oh, the side effects!
It was winter; the ants' store of grain had gotten wet and they were laying it out to dry. A hungry cicada asked them for something to eat. "Why didn't you gather food in the summer, like us?" one of the worker ants asked. "I didn't have time," it replied; "I was busy making sweet music." The worker laughed at it. "Very well," it said; "since you sang in the summer, you must dance in the winter."

A few ants of the drone caste heard what the worker said and were morally outraged. They convinced their brother drones to force the colony to share its grain with the cicada and all its relatives. "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," they said. For several years the drones ran the colony in the new, moral, way. The cicadas and the ants all nearly starved to death. Equally.

The drones of another colony, who agreed with the moral claim of the cicadas, pondered the sad fate of first colony. "The worker was right; the cicada made its own choices and had no moral claim on the ants' store of grain," they said. "But not everyone gets a fair start. To fix this, we will give everyone a share of the grain at the beginning of the summer, not at the end. Then at the end of the summer everyone will pay back the share he or she got at the beginning, plus interest. And those who do well and have extra grain will pay back extra to make up for those who don't have enough."

The cicadas thought this was a great idea. The workers weren't so sure. All that summer, the cicadas sang sweetly, the workers gathered grain (but not too much since they knew they'd have to give away any extra), and the drones watched. That winter they all nearly starved to death. Equally.

Excellent ideas. People need to read this book.
The concept of a stakeholder society is a very reasonable and very important idea. Alstott and Ackerman present a lucid, easy to read, argument for it. Their argument of the need for a citizen's pension in place of the present system of social security (which excludes people who have not 'worked', such as housewives), is also very convincing. I hope that their ideas don't get simply dismissed as "too radical" by the media. These ideas aren't radical at all. They're down to earth and sensible. ... Read more

Book Description

The author's primary emphasis is on the national budgeting process, with additional coverage of state and local processes. His goal is to bridge the gap between public budgeting and public finance/financial administration. ... Read more

Book Description

This book discusses the changing role of government finance in the twentieth century. It documents the enormous increase in government spending throughout the 1900s across all industrialized countries. However, the authors find that the growth of the welfare state over the past thirty-five years has not brought about much additional social and economic welfare. This suggests that public spending in industrialized countries could be much smaller than today without sacrificing important policy objectives. For this to happen, governments need to refocus their role on setting the rules of the game, and the study provides a blueprint of institutional and expenditure policy reform. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A "Must Read" for Anyone Interested in Fiscal Policy
For the first time in four decades comes a fiscal history aimed at the masses. "Vito Tanzi and Ludger Schuknecht have directed their analysis and their provocative hypotheses to a general audience, all the while detailing interesting numbers for the most part by comparing the average percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) attributed to government of seventeen wealthy countries -- the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, and so forth -- from the 1870s until today. Their finding that government's share in GDP has quadrupled in that time immediately catches the reader's attention, and they delve sufficiently deep into data of key subperiods to draw some interesting and unusual references. Unlike previous analysts, Tanzi and Schuknecht place a great deal of weight on ideological factors in conditioning public choice, but they are wholly aware of the more garden-variety factors such as "Baumol's cost disease" and Wagner's law."

"Probably the most intersting point made in the book is that although government's growth relative to the economy as a whole has been dramatic since the late Victorian era, the fraction of GDP absorbed by government has almost stopped growing since 1980 both in the United States and in other wealthy OECD countries."

Tanzi and Schuknecht "seem to be familiar with the entire range of the analytic literature, though none of the "techy" modelings underlying this literature are revealed in any detail. This sort of exposition is probably wise because such inclusions would cause the nontechnical reader's eyes to glaze over and are unnecessary for those already anointed. Tanzi and Schuknecht do develop the theoretical notions intuitively, however, which is more important, and their bibliography will be particularly helpful for the neophyte scholar. Their index is quite comprehensive, and both lay and professional readers might start their study there after a quick reading of the initial and final chapters."

Tanzi and Shuknecht wonderful explication of fiscal policy should make "Public Spending in the 20th Century" a "must read" book for anyone interested in the growth of government. "The wealth of descriptive data and the authors' fresh and lively style make this book very readable...A copy of Tanzi and Schuknecht's work should be on the desk of all policymakers who believe...that the institutions of fiscal choice really matter." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A great book!
Dall Forsythe, former budget director to Gov. Mario Cuomo, has written an excellent book on how big policy decisions are made. It is written in an easy to read style in memo format for the new Governor. ... Read more

Book Description

Public Finance in Theory and Practice will provide students with an understanding of the economic role of government.The students will be provided with the tools to critically analyze problems/issues of the public sector using basic economic theory.The author takes a strong emphasis on policy analysis as a way to integrate theory. Integrated throughout the text is an international comparative perspective, allowing students to gain an understanding on various ways to organize government, create policies, collect revenue, and allocate funds.Unlike most public finance text in the market today, Ulbrich's voice represents a public choice approach. ... Read more

Book Description

Envision a world without poverty or economic oppression-a place where humankind can attain its potential amidst the weightlessness of true freedom. Imagine the United States, and the rest of the world, without hunger or homelessness where educated societies enjoy all the fruits of their labor. In such a society it would not be necessary to hand over your hard-earned dollars to the government in payment of ever-increasing taxes. Such a vision is no doubt utopian, but Jacques Jaikaran introduces us to a radical economic reorganization of what is now a debt culture and proposes a monetary revolution the results of which would virtually eliminate debt as we know it.

Debt Virus deals with the anatomy and physiology of money, the lifeblood of commerce and industry and hence the economy. Jaikaran points out a monetary error at the root of our cyclical economic problems and prescribes a cure that promises to benefit all mankind. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Monetary revolutionary or nutball?
He makes some interesting points. And then repeats them over and over and over. He also gives no suggestion for implementing his solution, other than everyone with a loan suing the bank for loaning them illegitimate money. I believe he is currently incarcerated in a federal prison for tax fraud (claimed Texas was not really a state and therefore didn't have to file tax returns).

Debt Virus, a short synopsis
This book is written at a high school level but it is more
informative than most college textbooks on the subject
of money and banking...

The problem:

Every dollar in existence represents a dollar of debt owed by an
individual, a business firm, or a governmental unit. Few
understand that all our money arises out of debt and IOU
operations.

When a storekeeper secures a $10,000 loan from the bank, there is
no transfer of funds. The bank simply makes a bookkeeping entry
that increases the storekeeper's checking account by $10,000. By
doing so, the bank has just created new money. In addition, the
bank expects the storekeeper to repay the loan with interest on
the money it created by the bookkeeping entry.

In an all-debt or debt-dominant money system it is mathematically
and physically impossible to repay the aggregate debt, for only
money representing the principal is ever created. The interest
that must be repaid along with the principal debt is never
created. For some people to repay their principal and interest,
their interest must come from the principal created for other
people's debt. A deficit in the aggregate money supply thus
occurs making it impossible for other debtors to repay their
principal, much less principal and interest. Given such a money
system, it is only a matter of time before all the wealth of the
productive sector of society is transferred into the hands of the
money creators.

The solution:

Debt-free money, in the form of "US Notes."

The dollar bills in your pocket are called Federal Reserve Notes.
Under the present system, the US Treasury acts as a "print shop"
for the Federal Reserve. The Treasury only prints money when
asked to do so by the Federal Reserve System. Its order to print
money does not come from the President or Congress.

When the government wants money, it has only two choices, it can
either tax American citizens and businesses, or it must borrow the
money from somewhere. When the government borrows money from the
Federal Reserve, it issues an IOU (a bond) to the Fed, which then
creates checkbook money by means of a bookkeeping entry. This
newly created money is then lent to the government, at a price,
known as interest. In order to pay the interest on this national
debt, the government either collects taxes, or borrows more money.

The author proposes that Congress is legally entitled to order the
US Treasury to print US notes. He goes on to suggest that the
Treasury should be the only authorized source of money in the
United States, and it ought to answer to the government. In this
way, money would be created by government but no interest would be
owed. This in turn would eliminate the need for an income tax.

My thoughts:

The author's solution is similar to what Abraham Lincoln tried to
do when he issued "greenbacks" to fund the civil war.

Although the author's presentation of the problem is excellent, I
have misgivings about his solution. Once the government is given
the right to print fiat money, the potential for abuse would be
enormous. For instance, a left-wing government might decide to go
on a spending spree and propose all sorts of public works projects,
from socialized medicine to government ownership of entire
industries.

Unless equal attention is given to making sure that the power of
government to intrude into the lives of citizens and businesses
(both public and private) is limited, the author's solution might
just put us on the fast track to socialism, and we could end
up with the very tyranny we seek to prevent. In my opinion,
debt-free money issued by the government should only be attempted
if, and only if, constitutional safeguards ensuring limited
government are in place.

Ironically, socialism is precisely what the "money power" wants.
Since they control the government through indebtedness, they would
like the government to assume even greater control over the economy
and the lives of ordinary citizens.

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. In the final analysis,
our social problems are not so much political or economic, as they
are spiritual:

'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal
their land.'

II Chronicles 7:14

Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt
Frederick Soddy wrote a book in the 1920's with the same title as my review. Dr. Soddy was writing about the monetary system in England and he reached the same conclusions as Dr. Jaikaran. Dr. Soddy also won the Nobel Prize in Physics for work involving the discovery of Isotopes. Dr Soddy was clearly a very bright man, but after reading his book I must tell you he was obviously better with numbers and physics than he was with the English language.

Jacques Jaikaran, on the other hand, can write. Dr. Jaikaran and Dr. Soddy reached identical conclusions about money and the way it works in our society, but after reading "Debt Virus" you'll have a clearer, more understandable picture than you will after wading through "Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt."

This is an important book that anyone who earns, saves, invests or uses "money" (obviously I mean everyone) ought to read.

I interviewed Dr. Jaikaran for a radio show I once hosted and have heard him speak back in 1995. He taught me more about money than I had previously learned in four years as an undergraduate, three years in law school and twenty five years of business. And, he did so in an engaging, easy to understand manner.

Dr. Jaikaran (he's a medical doctor by the way) learned about money, after becoming a successful surgeon, when he was invited to join a bank board. Being a responsible person, he actually read the materials he was given by the bank, the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve. Then after he resigned from the bank board and after the bank later failed, he translated all of that into English you and I can understand.

Dr. Jaikaran has made a compelling case that our civilization is piling up too much debt, causing debt inflation and creating dangerous monetary conditions. He also provides intriguing information about who owns the Federal Reserve (it's not who you think), how banking really works, the history of money, where our money comes, what banking systems might offer safer alternative systems from and other important facts. By the way, he's not a "gold bug" arguing for a return to the gold standard.

But, does any of this really matter to regular people like us? Well, if you paid attention to current events over the past five years, you will have noticed a series of currency crises in Thiland, Russia and Argentina. Those people we watched on television mobing banks, trying to get their money out of Argentina while it was still worth something and worried about the economic survival of their families, could easily have been you and me. Their system is basically the same as ours.

Dr. Jaikaran is a very bright, forthright and opinionated man with strong views on a variety of subjects. You may disagree with him about somethings, I do; however, I've not been able to find fault with his facts, logic or conclusions when it comes to money and debt.

If Dr. Jaikaran and Frederick Soddy are right about money and debt, and I think they are, then our monetary system is in grave danger.

I feel strongly enough about this that I've given this book to at least half a dozen people and suggested it to dozens of others. I would have given more away if I could find people willing to think about money, fractional reserve banking and debt.

Incredible Reading
This is one of the most thought- provoking and scary books I have ever read. Clearly solutions must be found to the incredible build up of world debt to avoid world crisis. Dr. Jaikaran has a solution that sounds plausible and I recommend that everyone tell those in power about this book. You will not be able to put it down!

Never Read It
I met Dr Jaikaran on a plane from Houston to Atlanta. Among other things, he claimed that no single doctor has ever helped a person, and the medical professionn was a business. This enraged the passenger in front of us, who eventually refused to speak to us.

Dr Jaikaran also claimed that life expectancy dropped dramatically 3,500 years ago, at the same time of Noah's flood, where God told Noah that we could start eating animals(before that, according to OT wisdom, men we vegetarians, and had a life expentancy of 1000 years). He also tried to convince the very nice woman sitting next to me that the medical profession was worthless, although she was about to begin her residency program in Atlanta. ... Read more