The Economic Theory of Allocation of Resources Through the Public Sector

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present some of the theories which economists have devised to explain various aspects of the allocation of resources through the public sector. Topics include consideration of the circumstances in which public provision of a particular good would be more efficient than private provision, attempts to explain (through theories resembling supply-demand analysis) how individual wants are transformed into group decisions, and an examination of various aspects of various voting systems.