The Sound of Money or Fiscal Aspects of Evolving Federations

The Sound of Money: How Political Interests Get What They want

Author: Darrell M West

Who will determine the outcome of the November congressional elections? Who will influence which issues frame the debate? What forces will shape the upcoming impeachment debate? According to The Sound of Money: How Political Interests Get What They Want, a newly released book by Brown University professor Darrell M. West and co-author Burdett Loomis, it may not be the voters, the press, or even politicians themselves. Increasingly, the book argues, interest groups are among the most pervasive, powerful, and influential forces in American politics.
The new book studies the growing sway of interest groups on the course of public policy debates. Examining four cases (the Clinton Health Security Act, the Contract with America, telecommunications reform, and the battle over Medicare), the authors show how through ads, polls, research studies, and stealth campaigns, well-financed interests are able to define problems and dictate the course of political action. In many respects, this new group activism deeply affects-and may even threaten-the viability of representative government.

Charles Lewis

"an important and timely book." Charles Lewis, Center for Public Integrity, Washington, D.C.

John Mulligan

"a fine new book about influence buying." -- John Mulligan, Washington Bureau Chief, Providence Journal

Providence Journal - John Mulligan

A fine new book about influence buying.

What People Are Saying

Charles Lewis
An important and timely book.

See also: Microeconomia

Fiscal Aspects of Evolving Federations

Author: David E A Wildasin

These essays on the economics of fiscal federalism contain original research by experts in North America and Europe on a timely topic. Reform of fiscal relations between central and subnational governments is an urgent priority in many countries since increased economic integration within and among countries means that goods, services, capital, and human resources can flow across political boundaries more easily than before. The structure of intergovernmental transfers, tax competition, and the fiscal implications of labor migration are analyzed for audiences in economics, political science, and public policy.

Table of Contents:

Preface;

Part I. Introduction:

1. Introduction David E. Wildasin;
2. Fiscal aspects of evolving federations David E. Wildasin;

Part II. Theoretical Issues:
3. Efficiency and the optimal direction of federal-state transfers Robin Boadway and Michael Keen;
4. Interregional redistribution through tax surcharge Helmuth Cremer, Maurice Marchand and Pierre Pestieau;5. Decentralized public decision-making: the moral hazard problem Claude d'Aspremont and Louis-André Gérard-Varet;
6. Migration and income transfers in the presence of labor quality externalities Harry Huizinga;
7. Strategic provision of local public inputs for oligopolitistic firms in the presence of endogenous location choice Uwe Walz and Dietmar Wellisch;

Part III. Policy amd Practice:
8. The structure of urban governance in South African cities Junaid Ahmad;
9. Computable general equilibrium in local public finance and fiscal federalism Thomas Nechyba;
10. One people one destiny: centralisation and conflicts of interest in Australian federalism Jeffrey Petchey and Perry Shapiro.