The Theory of Policy Analysis

Nahid Aslanbeigui and Guy Oakes
Additional contact information
Nahid Aslanbeigui: Monmouth University
Guy Oakes: Monmouth University

Chapter 4 in Arthur Cecil Pigou, 2015, pp 97-135 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Pigou’s economics is generally understood as a body of policies, particularly ‘Pigouvian’ taxes and subsidies, designed to maximize economic welfare. This view is embedded in leading economics textbooks, the basis of the early socialization of economists and the principal artefacts in which ideas are institutionally certified as economic truths. Older books identify presumptively Pigouvian policies by attaching his name to them. Newer texts retain the policies but drop his name, indicating the extent to which the received view is woven into the conventional wisdom of the field. One notable result of this reading of Pigou is the ‘Pigou Club’ founded by Gregory Mankiw. Numerous economists have been inducted as members, amongst them Gary Becker, Robert Frank, Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini, and Lawrence Summers.1 Pigou’s place in the disciplinary consciousness of contemporary economics is nicely documented in a remark by William D. Nordhaus in an essay on the economics of energy use. Taxes on negative externalities, Nordhaus observes, are ‘sometimes called Pigouvian taxes after their first important advocate, English economist Alfred [sic] Pigou’ (Nordhaus 2011, 30). So much for the conventional view of Pigou’s thinking.

Keywords: Exchange Rate; Policy Analysis; Bank Rate; National Debt; Unearned Income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:gtechp:978-1-137-31450-5_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137314505

DOI: 10.1057/9781137314505_4

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Great Thinkers in Economics from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().