Abstract
The central concern of Alan Peacock’s work was in public finance. He defended the traditions of classical liberal political economy against the claims of ‘The New Welfare Economics’ to represent the only theoretically rigorous approach to public policy. His contribution was not focused on either positive or normative economics, but on what John Neville Keynes (1891. The scope and method of political economy, 1st ed. London: Macmillan) called the ‘art of economics’ – the translation of normative principles into policy action given the constraints presented by practically feasible institutions governing both private and public choice. His policy interests were wide and ranged from the big questions of the size and scope of government to more specific issues such as the structure of the social security system, the finance of education, the public support of the arts generally and the finance of the BBC in particular.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Beveridge, W.H. 1942. Social insurance and allied services. Cmd.6404. London: HMSO.
Breton, A. 1974. The economic theory of representative government. London: Macmillan.
Buchanan, J.M., and G. Tullock. 1965. The calculus of consent. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Command Paper 5460-1. 1973. Royal commission on the constitution 1969–73, vol. 2. London: HMSO.
Downs, A. 1957. An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper and Row.
Friedman, M., and R.D. Friedman. 1962. Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hicks, J.R. 1939. The foundations of welfare economics. Economic Journal 49(196): 696–712.
Home Office. 1986. Report of the committee on the financing of the BBC. Cmnd.9824. London: HMSO. (The Peacock Report).
Kaldor, N. 1939. Welfare propositions of economics and interpersonal comparisons of utility. Economic Journal 49(195): 549–552.
Keynes, J.N. 1891. The scope and method of political economy, 1st ed. London: Macmillan.
Lindahl, E. 1919. Just taxation – A positive solution. Trans. E. Henderson. Reprinted in Musgrave and Peacock (1958), 168–176.
Niskanen, W.A. 1971. Bureaucracy and representative government. Chicago: Aldine.
Olson, M. 1974. The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Puviani, A. 1903. Teoria della Illusione Finanziaria. Palermo: Sanaron.
Samuelson, P.A. 1954. The pure theory of public expenditure. Review of Economics and Statistics 36(4): 387–389.
Sen, A. 1970. The impossibility of a Paretian liberal. Journal of Political Economy 78(1): 152–157.
Tocqueville, Alexis de. 1965. Democracy in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Originally published 1835 and 1840.
Wagner, A. 1883. Three extracts on public finance. Translated and reprinted in Musgrave and Peacock (1958), 1–15.
Watson, G. (ed.). 1957. The unservile state: Essays in liberty and welfare. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Wicksell, K. 1896. A new principle of just taxation. Trans. J. M. Buchanan. In Musgrave and Peacock (1958), 72–118.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ricketts, M. (2018). Peacock, Alan T. (1922–2014). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_3005
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_3005
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences