The New Fiscal Sociology : Taxation in Comparative and Historical Perspective demonstrates that the study of taxation can illuminate fundamental dynamics of modern societies. The sixteen essays in this collection offer a state-of-the-art survey of the new fiscal sociology that is emerging at the intersection of sociology, history, political science, and law.
The contributors include some of the foremost comparative historical scholars in these disciplines and others. They approach the institution of taxation as a window onto the changing social contract. Their chapters address the social and historical sources of tax policy, the problem of how taxes persist, and the social and cultural consequences of taxation. They trace fundamental connections between tax institutions and macro-historical phenomena - wars, shifting racial boundaries, religious traditions, gender regimes, labour systems, and more.
About the Authors
Isaac William Martin is the author of The Permanent Tax Revolt (2008), which won the President's Book Award from the Social Science History Association, and he is the co-editor of After the Tax Revolt: California's Proposition 13 Turns 30 (2009). He teaches sociology and urban studies at the University of California at San Diego.
Ajay K. Mehrotra teaches law and history at Indiana University, Bloomington. He studies the historical development of American law and political economy, particularly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His writings have appeared in the Journal of Policy History, Labor History, the Indiana Law Journal, and the UCLA Law Review. He is currently at work on a book about taxation and American state formation during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.
Monica Prasad teaches in the Department of Sociology at Northwestern University. She is the author of The Politics of Free Markets (2006), which won the 2007 Barrington Moore Award. Her current projects include research on the origins of progressive taxation in America (with Kimberly Morgan, forthcoming in the American Journal of Sociology); a comparative study of tax progressivity (with Yingying Deng); and a comparative historical investigation of carbon taxes.
Industry Reviews
"The New Fiscal Sociology presents a fantastic collection of essays written and edited by a group of first-rate scholars. The essays explore taxation from a range of perspectives including history, economics, political science, law, and sociology and in doing provide readers with a fascinating account of the development of the tax laws and their implication for modern society. The collection is truly a "must-read" for scholars, graduate students, and others interested in fiscal matters." --Nancy Staudt, Professor of Law, Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law "Writings on an emerging cross-disciplinary field that examines such issues as the social bases and impact of taxation..." --The Chronicle of Higher Education
