The collected papers of Richard A. Musgrave: A review article

Abstract

Richard Musgrave is the doyen of public finance economists. His written work has affected virtually every branch of the subject. It is important not only in its own right but also on account of where it has led others to follow. The Theory of Public Finance (1959) is a landmark in the field, unlikely ever to be surpassed in breadth of coverage or depth of scholarship. His teaching has influenced many generations of students, at Michigan, Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Harvard, and his active participation in professional activities ~ both inside and outside universities has been an example to us all. The publication of his collected papers in Public Finance in a Democratic Society is therefore very much to be welcomed. The two volumes reviewed here reprint articles, and contributions to books, spanning the period from his ‘Voluntary Exchange Theory of Public Economy’ in 1938 to the ‘A Brief Review of Fiscal Doctrine’ which appeared in the first volume of the Handbook of Public Economics in 1985. The 800 pages represent only a fraction of Musgrave’s total writings, which he estimates at some 10,000 pages (I, 90),’ but the collection provides an excellent overall view of his contribution to public finance. The first volume deals with fiscal functions and social goals, taxation, and macro-economic aspects of fiscal policy; the second volume covers fiscal federalism, social security, development finance, and fiscal doctrine. It need hardly be said that such a broad canvas cannot be adequately covered in this article, and my review selects a small number of topics for discussion.