Topics in Public Economics

This volume, first published in 1998, presents developments in urban geography, club theory and local public finance, and international trade which contribute to the explanation of the modern opposing trends of integration and segregation. Part I explores the role of transportation costs, crowding, and preferences for a large variety of goods in shaping the main features of urban geography. Part II contains four contributions on fundamental issues associated with the provision of collective goods (club goods and local public goods) using a game-theoretic approach. Part III investigates features of the production, pricing, and consumption of congested public goods. The articles discuss the financing of transportation infrastructure (a special case of a congested public facility) in an intertemporal framework, the efficiency of monopolistic provision of congested public goods, the 'musical-suburbs' problem, and the influence of cessation forces on federations. Part IV covers key tax issues arising in a world where economic borders are gradually being removed.