Behavioral Public Finance: Toward a New Agenda

The field of behavioral public finance examines the relevance of various deviations from rationality in decisions relating to taxation and government expenditures. Research in this discipline includes assessment of the effectiveness of public policy in modifying self-damaging behavior and the efficacy of tax-collection procedures. With support from the Russell Sage Foundation, Joel Slemrod will convene a meeting at the University of Michigan to assess recent research in behavioral public finance. This conference, to be held in Spring 2004, will follow up on themes introduced in a February 2003 meeting entitled "Behavioral Public Finance: New Directions for Theory and Analysis." Scholars in the fields of economics, law, and psychology will present papers at the conference that address voting, taxes, welfare program participation and health insurance from a behavioral perspective.

The Foundation will publish the conference papers as a book, Behavioral Public Finance.