Towards a Catallactic Approach to Public Finance

Abstract

Why are tax policies around the world long, complicated, and rife with loopholes despite virtually universal agreement that a shorter, simpler tax code with fewer loopholes would be preferred? Traditional explanations, which are implicitly grounded in a choice-theoretic framework, are unable to provide an answer to this question. This dissertation seeks to provide an alternative, rules-based approach to answering this question and ultimately to answering the question of how taxation and appropriation policies are created.