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Richard E. Wagner, Deficits, Debt, and Democracy: Wrestling with Tragedy on the Fiscal Commons (Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2012)

By
  • Wolf von Laer

Originally published in Journal of the History of Economic Thought

We know that forty-nine of the fifty US states are running deficits despite being constitutionally required to balance budgets. How is that possible? In Deficits, Debt, and Democracy, Richard E. Wagner wrestles with this and other questions in regard to the fiscal commons.

We know that forty-nine of the fifty US states are running deficits despite being constitutionally required to balance budgets. How is that possible? In Deficits, Debt, and Democracy, Richard E. Wagner wrestles with this and other questions in regard to the fiscal commons. He relies on particular methods different from the standard public finance literature that provide an insightful approach centered on emergent orders and process-oriented reasoning. 

Find article at Cambridge Journals Online. 

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