ECON 3B03 Lecture 2: Lecture 2
15 Jan 2019
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Document Summary
Public finance - field of economics that analyzes government taxation and spending activities. Terms that better capture the fundamental issues of this field of economics - government"s role in the allocation of resources - that includes, but is not limited to, government"s financial behaviour. Views of how government should function are influenced by general attitudes toward the individual/state relationship. Individuals are parts of the organism that have significance only as part of the community, which is stressed above the individual. Government is not an organic part of society but created by individuals for individuals. Before the modern period, the interests of the group took priority over the wishes of the individual and the achievement of his/her particular ends. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were personal ideals which the average, educated 16th century man would have rejected as the prime goals of a good society.
