‘Public goods’ before Samuelson: interwar<i>Finanzwissenschaft</i>and Musgrave's synthesis

Sturn, Richard

doi:10.1080/09672560903320084

Cited by 37 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Although the latter is best represented in his 1959 book The Theory of public finance, one can get very good evidence of his long-sustained view from his 1937 PhD dissertation which was prepared under the supervision of Harold Hitchings Burbank. Musgrave often remarked that his "comparative advantage" in the USA was the knowledge of continental public finance literature that he acquired in his Heidelberg years and which allowed him to produce a synthesis (Musgrave 1986, Musgrave 1997, Sturn 2010. He was not a mathematical economist (Musgrave 1959 p. ix).…”

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…He studied at the University of Munich and in Heidelberg where he attended courses by Adolf Weber, Otto von Zwiedineck, Alfred Weber (the brother of Max), Jakob Marschak, and Otto Pfleiderer (Musgrave 1983, Musgrave 1997, Sinn 2009, Sturn 2010. Later, he received a scholarship which allowed him to go to Rochester (NY) in 1933.…”

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…For instance, individuals can aim for the satisfaction of indivisible collective needs, or they can collectively aim to provide 24 Cassel was one of the thinkers of the Swedish model of social-democracy (Carlson 2003). In his Theoretische Sozial€ okonomie (Theory of Social Economy), he came very close to the formulation of the two musgravian criteria for public goods (Sturn 2010). Musgrave (1983) recalls that he attended a course by Adolf Weber in Munich which was a "watered-down" version of Cassel's Theory (Colander and Landreth 1996, p. 195).…”

Section: Public Responsibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…His economics training had been completed for a few years and he never integrated neoclassical economics into his applied Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay policy work (Sturn 2010). Colm stands as one of the last figure of public finance in the USA to oppose the individualistic approach: "I think it does not make sense to interpret a person's ideas about international tension, national security, foreign aid, conservation of resources, education and health in terms of the 'individual wants' and to propose that the costs for these programs should be allocated accordingly" (Colm 1957, p. 54).…”

Section: Gerhard Colmmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A genealogy of the concept of merit wants

Desmarais-Tremblay¹

2016

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought

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International audienceThis paper proposes a genealogy of the concept of merit wants coined by Richard A. Musgrave in his Theory of Public Finance (1959). The concept of merit wants can only be understood as a complement to the concept of public goods. I suggest that Musgrave invented the concept to apprehend some considerations that have been left out in the process of consolidation of the concept of public good. The narrow definition of the latter could not account for important state responsibilities that have been asserted by many economists.I attempt to reconstruct Musgrave's intellectual background. First, I select examples of arguments for state intervention from authors influential in Musgrave's formative period (J.S. Mill, H. Sidgwick, E. Sax, H. Ritschl, G. Cassel, A. Wagner). Second, I argue that the invention of the concept in the 1950s reflected contemporary concerns for redistributive policies. I show that critics of the New Welfare approach (G. Colm, A. Hansen, W. Heller, H. Bowen) have held similar views, which were also in line with the liberal policy spirit of the post-war era in the United States

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Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Public Responsibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Gerhard Colmmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A genealogy of the concept of merit wants

Desmarais-Tremblay¹

2016

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought

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“…19 For an extensive survey of the interwar literature on public goods which could have influenced Musgrave, see Sturn (2010). goods).…”

Section: Unfolding the Household Analogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Paternalism and the Public Household. On the Domestic Origins of Public Economics

Desmarais-Tremblay

2017

SSRN Journal

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The ancient Greek conception of oikonomia is often dismissed as irrelevant for making sense of the contemporary economic world. In this paper, I emphasise a thread that runs through the history of economic thought connecting the oikos to modern public economics. By conceptualising the public economy as a public household, Richard A. Musgrave (1910Musgrave ( -2007 set foot in a long tradition of analogy between the practically oriented household and the state. Despite continuous references to the domestic model by major economists throughout the centuries, the analogy has clashed with liberal values associated with the public sphere since the eighteenth century. Musgrave's conceptualization of public expenditures represents one episode of this continuing tension. His defence of merit goods, in particular, was rejected by many American economists in the 1960s because it was perceived as a paternalistic intervention by the state. I suggest that the accusation of paternalism should not come as a surprise once the 'domestic' elements in Musgrave's conceptualisation of the public sector are highlighted. I develop three points of the analogy in Musgrave's public household (the communal basis, a central direction, and consumption to satisfy needs) which echo recurring patterns of thought about the state.

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Peace, R2P and Public Goods Theory

Møller

2018

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Approaches to Peace

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‘Public goods’ before Samuelson: interwarFinanzwissenschaftand Musgrave's synthesis

Cited by 37 publications

References 19 publications

A genealogy of the concept of merit wants

A genealogy of the concept of merit wants

Paternalism and the Public Household. On the Domestic Origins of Public Economics

Peace, R2P and Public Goods Theory

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