Behavioral public finance /

Edited by economist Slemrod (Michigan Univ.) and lawyer McCaffery (Univ. of Southern California), this collection of essays applies behavioral economics--analysis that deviates from the fundamental assumption of rational human behavior that characterizes traditional economics--to several contemporary issues of public finance. Topics include how public support for a tax depends on how the tax is described (or framed); influences on retirement saving (including Social Security effects); and influences on tax compliance/tax evasion. Most of the authors, academicians from institutions in the US, UK, Netherlands, and Switzerland, are educated in economics, so deviations from standard microeconomics are not as great as might be expected. Indeed, the analyses generally involve a mixture of microeconomics and psychology, with a bit of marketing and law thrown in, and involve examination of behavioral experiments, questionnaires, and behavioral data at the individual level, although some essays are primarily theoretical. The results reported should interest all those involved in the logic and practice of government finance. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate through professional collections. J. L. Mikesell Indiana University--Bloomington