Chapter One: Introduction
1. This book is about the taxing and spending activity of government, a subject usually called public finance. This term is something of a misnomer, because the fundamental issues are not financial (that is, relating to money). Rather, the key problems relate to the use real resources. P4
2. Our focus is on the microeconomic functions of government; the way government affects the allocation of resources and the distribution of income. P4
3. Views of how government should function in the economic sphere are influenced by ideological views concerning the relationship between the individual and the state:
a. Organic view of government: Society is conceived of as a natural organism. Each individual is a part of this organism, and the government can be thought of as its heart. The individual has significance only as part of the community, and the good of the individual is defined with respect to the good of the whole. Thus the community is stressed above the individual. The goals of the society are set by the state, which leads society toward their realization. The choice of goals differs considerably.