Social Issues : The Ethics and Economics of Taxes and Public Programs

This text is intended for use on courses in social issues and policies.

Given recent cuts in government budgets, issues such as taxation, welfare, health care, social security, and environmental protection are drawing increasing attention to the basic problems of how to divide resources equitably among all members of society.

By combining perspectives from ethics, politics and economics, this work delineates a "social ethics" which can be combined with basic economic theory to analyze and address these public policy problems.