Public Finance and Public Policy Reviews
Public Finance and Public Policy
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 When it first appeared, Jonathan Gruber’s Public Finance and Public Policy was the first textbook to truly reflect the way public finance issues were evaluated, implemented, and researched in the real world today. Like no other text available, it enhanced its survey of essential, traditional topics with an emphasis on empirical work and coverage of transfer programs and social insurance. Coming in the wake of the 200
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September 9th, 2010 at 4:28 am
Review by Benjamin Ho for Public Finance and Public Policy
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An excellent textbook for an upper level course for economics majors. There is a lot of inertia in textbook choice, but I was finally convinced to adopt Gruber’s book when I served as the Lecturer for Stanford University’s upper-level seminar in Public Economics. The textbook has high production values and of particular note is its timeliness in covering both current policy issues (Social Security Reform, Fundamental Tax Reform, Education, etc.) and current public economics research (Political Economy, Behavioral Economics, Contract Theory, etc). Most textbooks on the market offer a very dated view of Public Economics, especially in terms of current research. The book explains the findings using intuition and graphs, but provides mathematical detail in mathematical supplements for the ambitious reader. The accompanying website also provides impressive PowerPoint slides. The student response to the textbook was uniformly positive.
The only downsides are the hefty price tag, worsened by the limited secondary market, and for those who want a more mathematically rigorous treatment in courses that require calculus and optimization, the included supplements were helpful, but still limited.
September 9th, 2010 at 4:31 am
Review by Carrie for Public Finance and Public Policy
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I ordered a text book and was sent a copy with “complimentary copy not for resale” written in bold across the cover. I was never informed by the seller that it was a complimentary copy and now it’s going to be harder for me to sell it when I am done with the book.
September 9th, 2010 at 4:48 am
Review by Yoshiyuki Shiomi for Public Finance and Public Policy
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thanks very much!!
my book came in a very good condition as i expected.
i’m really satisfied with it.
thanks again.
September 9th, 2010 at 4:55 am
Review by UofMStudent for Public Finance and Public Policy
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I am a student at the University of Michigan. And having studied this book for our public finance class, I would say that the author can actually trim the book to 40% of its current length. If you are good at math, thinks rationally, and have some common sense of how the world works or should work then you can reach the same conclusions without reading the book.
A lot of the material is simply common sense. It talks about what the best public policy is for governments, why there is corruption, best form of education management…etc. However, if you find a smart friend and have a rigorous debate with him/her about government (like what most college students do nowadays) you can easily come to the same conclusion. Then put what you come up with into a very succinct math equation and you would have learned the entire material on your own.
Seriously, as an aspiring Micro theorist/Financial economist, this stuff is a joke. The book actually devotes four pages to a discussion of what corruption is and how it works in the government. Prof. Gruber could seriously shorten that to a page in succinct form. The student’s opportunity costs should be considered!
The problem with this book is that it assumes that 1. you have no common sense. 2. you are horrendous at math, and thus irrational. 3. Long, run-on sentences will not bore you to sleep.
Go study micro and macro theory, have a solid understanding of it, read the news regularly, think, and this material will come to you naturally. The book is only good for mentioning important research papers and names which will aid the student in his thought. Beyond that, it is largely useless. Anyone can find the statistical content on their own.
September 9th, 2010 at 5:42 am
Review by for Public Finance and Public Policy
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My Dad’s book is awesome! Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. My name is Sam Gruber, and my Dad is Jonathan Gruber. Seriously. I’m not kidding. I swear. If you don’t believe me, ask him. Anyway, the reason I liked this book is because he used my name in it 25 times! (he counted.) I also liked the colors. I really like the cover, because I helped my Dad pick it. All in all, my Dad can write very well, and if he doesn’t write another book, well, I’ll make him.