Home Page of Stanley L. Winer

Welcome to the Home Page of Stanley L. Winer

Canada Research Chair Professor in Public Policy
School of Public Policy and Administration, and Department of Economics
Office: School of Public Policy, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Canada, K1S5B6
Tel: (613) 520-2600 x-2630. Fax: (613) 520-2551. Email: stan_winer@carleton.ca

What My Research Is About

· The integration of public finance and the study of collective choice. This longstanding line of research combines the traditional concerns of public finance with the analysis of collective choice mechanisms, and explores the implications of the resulting frameworks for the positive and normative analysis of taxation, public expenditure and public policy generally.

· Political competition in mature democracies. Political competition is at the heart of what we call democracy. The purpose of this research is to study the meaning, measurement, explanation and consequences of variation in the degree political competition in mature democracies over very long periods of time. This work is funded by an SSHRCC grant from the political science committee.

· Democracy and the environment. In this research, I am concerned with the relationship between the stringency of environmental regulation, the management of trade openness and the nature of political institutions in the world. The use of the environment as an input in production and ability of individuals to privately mitigate the consequences of pollution at a cost are key elements of the framework of analysis. I am addressing questions like: "Is democracy good for the environment?" This research is funded by an SSHRCC grant from the economics committee.

Selected Work: Books

· Political Economy and Public Finance: The Role of Political Economy in the Theory and Practice of Public Economics. Co-edited with Hirofumi Shibata. Edward Elgar Publishing 2002.

· Political Economy in Federal States: Selected Essays of Stanley L. Winer. Edward Elgar Publishing 2002.

· Democratic Choice and Taxation: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 1999 (with Walter Hettich). Paperback 2005. (For Amazon, click here)

Selected Work: Papers

· Political Regimes, Institutions and the Nature of Tax Systems. Prepared for 'Tax Systems: Whence and Whither (Recent evolution, current problems and future challenges)'. A Conference sponsored by the Saving Bank Foundation of Spain, FUNCAS and UNICAJA. Malaga Spain, September 9 – 11, 2009. Also presented as a general address to the annual meeting of SIEP (Società italiana di economia pubblica ) Pavia, September 24-25, 2009. (With Lawrence Kenny and Walter Hettich). July 22, 2009.

· Explaining Variation in the Degree of Electoral Competition in a Mature Democracy: U.S. Senate Elections, 1922-2004. Presented at the APSA Meetings. Toronto, September 4, 2009. (With Lawrence Kenny and Bernard Grofman). February 4, 2009.

· The Demands for Environmental Regulation and for Trade in the Presence of Private Mitigation. August 2008. (with Louis Hotte). CESifo Working Paper No. 2509, December 2008.

· Social Welfare and Coercion in Public Finance. Revised August 2008. (with George Tridimas and Walter Hettich). CESifo Working Paper No. 2482, December. 2008.

· Searching for Keynesianism (with J. Stephen Ferris). European Journal of Political Economy 24, 2008, 294 – 316.

Click here for the longer CESifo version (also dealing with automatic vs. discretionary policy) of August 2003.

Click here for list of 'Names of Variables and Data Sources'.

· Studying the Role of Political Competition in the Evolution of Government Size over Long Horizons (with J. Stephen Ferris and SooBin Park). Public Choice, 137 (1/2), 2008, 369-401.

· Just how much bigger is government in Canada? A comparative analysis of the size and structure of the public sectors in Canada and the United States, 1929 - 2004 (with Stephen Ferris). Canadian Public Policy 33(2), July 2007, 173-206.

Click here for the accompanying data spreadsheet of June 2007.

· Trending Economic Factors and the Structure of Congress, 1930 – 2002. (with John Aldrich, Bernard Grofman and Michael Tofias). Public Choice 135, 2008, 415-448.

Click here for data spreadsheet of October 2007.

· Taxation in the World: An Empirical Investigation of the Importance of Tax Bases, Collection Costs and Political Regime (with Larry Kenny) International Tax and Public Finance 13, 2006, 181-215.

· Explaining Tax Reform. For the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Conference on The Challenges of Tax Reform in a Global Economy. October 2004.

· Structure and Coherence in the Political Economy of Public Finance (with Walter Hettich). In B. Weingast and D. Wittman (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy. Oxford University Press, 2006

· The Political Economy of Government Size (with George Tridimas). Revised version in the European Journal of Political Economy, 21(3), 2005, 643-666.

· Regulation and Taxation: Analyzing Policy Interdependence (with Walter Hettich). Public Finance Review 34 (4), 380. 2006.

· Tinpots, Totalitarians (and Democrats): An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Economic Growth on Civil Liberties and Political Rights (with Muhammed Islam). Public Choice 2004.

· Rules, Politics and the Normative Analysis of Taxation (with Walter Hettich). In J. Backhaus and R. Wagner (eds), Handbook of Public Economics. Kluwer Academic, 2004, 109-138.

· Political Influence, Economic Interests and Endogenous Tax Structure in a Computable Equilibrium Framework: With Application to the United States, 1973 and 1983 (with Louis Hotte). Public Choice 109, 2001, 69- 98.

· Policy-Induced Migration in Canada: An Empirical Study (with Kathleen Day). International Tax and Public Finance, 2006. Click here for shorter version, 2006.

Click here for full version for Government of Canada (2001, 294 pages).

· The Political Economy of Taxation: Positive and Normative Analysis When Collective Choice Matters (with Walter Hettich). in C. Rowley and F. Schneider (eds), Encyclopedia of Public Choice, Kluwer Academic 2003.

· Normative Public Finance for Political Economists (Speaking Notes for the European Public Choice Meetings), Belgirate, April 2 002.

· Information, Coordination, and Tax Policy Making (with Walter Hettich). In R. Bird, M. Trebilcock and T. Wilson (eds). Rationality in Public Policy: Retrospect and Prospect, A Tribute to Douglas Hartle. Canadian Tax Foundation, No.104, 1999, 19-42.

· Debt and Tariffs: An empirical investigation of the evolution of revenue systems. (with Walter Hettich). Journal of Public Economics 45, 1991, 215 - 242.

· Economic and Political Foundations of Tax Structure (with Walter Hettich). American Economic Review 74(4), 1988, 701 - 712.

· Money and Politics In a Small Open Economy. Public Choice 51, 1986, 221 – 239.

· Vertical Imbalance in the Fiscal Systems of Federal States (with Walter Hettich). Canadian Journal of Economics 19(4), 1986, 745-765.

· The Role of Exchange Rate Flexibility in the International Transmission of Inflation in Long and Shorter Runs: Canada 1953 – 1981. Canadian Journal of Economics 19(1), 1986, 62 - 86.

· A Positive Model of Tax Structure (with Walter Hettich). Journal of Public Economics 24, 1984, 67 - 87.

· Some Evidence on the Effect of the Separation of Spending and Taxing Decisions. Journal of Political Economy 91(1),1983,126 - 140.

Curriculum Vitae

· Short Biography

Current Course Outlines

· ECON 5403 - Public Choice (Fall 2008)

· PADM 6111 - Markets, Prices and Governments (Fall 2009)

· PADM 6112 - Policy Processes and Institutions II (Winter 2009)

Other Connections

· Canada Research Chairs Web site: www.chairs.gc.ca

· Carleton's Home Page

· School of Public Policy and Administration

· Department of Economics

· The MacOdrum Library

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