Public Economics, The 1950s

Abstract This chapter covers Paul Samuelson’s work in public economics, a field in which he had already achieved a significant reputation by the early 1950s, even though it did not feature in his early work. His earliest work, despite being undertaken as a Consultant for the Division of Tax Research at the US Treasury Department, proved important for subsequent developments in the theory of optimal taxation, despite not being published. The chapter also covers the origins of his widely cited paper on public goods, and the controversies it generated. The final section deals with his model of community saving, which became important in later macroeconomic modeling as well as having implications for social security provision.