PUBLIC GOODS, REDISTRIBUTION AND RENT SEEKING

Book ID/图书代码： 04289508B20058

English Summary/英文概要： Gordon Tullock, eminent political economist and one of the founders of public choice, offers this new and fascinating look at how governments and externalities are linked. Economists frequently justify government as dealing with externalities, defined as benefits or costs that are generated as the result of an economic activity, but that do not accrue directly to those involved in the activity. In this original work, Gordon Tullock posits that government can also create externalities. In doing so, he looks at governmental activity that internalizes such externalities. Monarchical governments originally introduced, for the benefit of the monarch rather than to eliminate externalities, many standard government activities such as road building, war, and internal policing.Most modern governments spend more money on redistribution than on more traditional government activities. This can be thought of as another effort to reduce externalities, since suffering in the community imposes externalities on the rest of us. Rent seeking, a relatively new field in economics and political science, is closely related to externalities and to the structure of government. An analysis of rent seeking, as well as some suggestions for improving government structure, cap off this fascinating treatise. Economists and political scientists will find this lively and readable book both stimulating and provocative.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 經濟學家通常會將政府視為「處理」外部性問題的角色，但這麼做很容易忽略外部性的其他參與者。戈登在書中指出，政府其實也會製造外部性，只是這些外部性被內化了。
過去君主政府的許多作為〈包含造橋鋪路、發動戰爭與內部政策制定等〉，目的旨在追求君王的福祉〈而非減少外部性〉，相較之下, 當代政府則是把力氣多花費在「再分配」上〈如貧富不均à所得重分配〉。雖然這其實也可以被視為降低外部性的努力，因為整體受苦〈如解決社會貧富不均問題〉等於是加諸在每個人身上的負面外部效果。
此外，戈登在此書中同時也論及經濟學和政治科學上一個相當新的領域─競租〈rent seeking〉，因為競租其實與外部性和政府組織之間關係密切。他在書中對競租的分析與對政府組織改造的一些建議，將讓讀者重新審視外部性這個議題，是本讀來讓人驚艷的經濟學著作。
(PS. 外部性, 或稱外部效應, 外部成本: 例如水質污染就是一種不好的外部性, 因為相關的產品實際上就必須額外加上處理污水的成本費用在內; 一般經濟學者認為政府應該擔任解決外部性的角色, 但實際上造成污染的企業主或個人就逃避了責任; 好的外部性例如建造公園等. 此外, 有時政府本身也會製造不好的外部性)。(Kate/Math)

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About the Author/作者介绍： 戈登•塔爾洛克（Gordon Tullock）是傑出的政治經濟學家，也是提出公共選擇理論的學者，他在本書中對政府與外部性之間的關聯提出了嶄新觀點。

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