An Italian Foundation for New Fiscal Sociology: A Reflection on the Pareto-Griziotti and Pareto-Sensini Letters on Ricardian Equivalence and Fiscal Theory
This paper reflects on the influence of Vilfredo Pareto’s letters to two of his ex-students, Benvenuto Griziotti and Guido Sensini, on Ricardian equivalence and fiscal theory. The letters are of historical interest because of their emphasis on the need for fiscal studies to consider “social equilibrium” and because they were written when Italian fiscal sociology was in its formative stages. It is suggested that the two sets of letters had quite different consequences; with Griziotti rejecting Pareto’s contention that social equilibrium should play a central role in fiscal studies and Sensini attempting to develop an approach to public finance where the relationship between fiscal phenomena and social equilibrium is presented as the central issue in the theory of public finance. Griziotti’s approach, which accommodates a fiscal sociology that focuses on specific political and legislation issues rather that general social equilibrium, proved more influential than Sensini’s approach, but the Pareto-Sensini line of investigation is of greater current relevance.
Schumpeter's crisis of the tax state: An essay in fiscal sociology
Schumpeter'sCrisis of the Tax State and other fiscal writings are summarized. His crisis theory and its relation to his prognosis of capitalist decline is explored, along with Goldscheid's earlier model. Both are found to have underestimated the resilience of the tax state and its ability to sustain expanding budgets. Schumpeter's view of the income tax as appropriate for a minimal state is assessed along with subsequent tax development. His fiscal model is placed in the context of his understanding of sociology as a social science. Some conjectures on his response to the subsequent course of fiscal sociology are added.
Career Choice Inclination of the College Graduates——under the Analytic Framework on the Basis of LMS Theory
Employment difficulty of college graduates has become a social problem in China today.The research group has found that college graduates have a strong inclination in career choice considering units and regions.In terms of China's manpower market and the segmented labor market theory,it is found that their inclination is caused by the great income gap of different regions,the high cost of job transfer,and the sharp differences in social welfare.It is thus obvious that solution to the problem lies with the gradual breakdown of the institutional segment of labor market.