Political economy and public finance : the role of political economy in the theory and practice of public economics There is a long standing difference amongst public economists between those who think that collective choice must be formally acknowledged and those who derive their policy recommendations from a social planning framework in which politics plays no role. The purpose of this book is to contribute to a meaningful dialogue between these two groups in the belief that the future of both political economy and of normative public finance lies somewhere between the two approaches. Some of the specific questions addressed in the book include: does public finance need political economy Should collective choice play a role in the standard of reference used in normative public finance What is a failure in a non market or policy process And what have we learned about the theory and practice of public finance from three decades of empirical research on public choice The book also provides a practitioners view of the political economy of redistribution pt. 1. Does public finance need political economy pt. 2. Should collective choice play a role in the standard of reference used in nomative public finance pt. 3. What is a failure in a non market or policy process pt. 4. What have we learned about the theory and practice of public finance from three decades of empirical research on public choice pt. 5. A practitioners view of the political economy of redistribution pt. 6. Where do we go from here