Book Reviews : The Mexican Political System. By L. VINCENT PADGETT. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966. Pg. viii, 244. $2.75.)

• Author: Paul Kelso
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Date: 01 December 1966
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591296601900436
• Subject Matter: Articles

759

such

a

superficial

manner,

Political

Power

and

Social

Change

will

recommend

itself

to

few

scholars

save

those

who

seek

indiscriminately

for

any

ammunition

available

to

attack

&dquo;the

behavioralists.&dquo;

Louisiana

State

University

W.

WAYNE

SHANNON

Essays

in

Fiscal

Federalism.

Edited

by

RICHARD

A.

MUSGRAVE.

(Washington,

D.C.:

The

Brookings

Institution,

1965.

Pp.

xvi,

301.

$6.00.)

This

series

of

five

essays

is

based

on

Ph.D.

dissertations

prepared

under

the

sponsorship

of

the

Brookings

Institution

program

in

Studies

of

Government

Fi-

nance

and

directed

by

Professor

Musgrave.

Four

of

the

dissertations

were

prepared

at

Johns

Hopkins

University

and

the

fifth

at

Princeton

University.

The

focus

of

the

study

of

public

finance

has

been

on

national

(unitary)

gov-

ernment

finance.

In

the

United

States,

it

has

been

traditional

to

accept

this

bias,

in

part

on

the

ground

that

national

action

has

the

only

significant

effect

upon

the

economy

of

the

states

and

regions.

Under

the

impact

of

expanding,

jointly-

administered

federal

grants

and

as

a

result

of

further

exploration

of

the

Heller-

Pechman

proposals

for

state

sharing

of

federally

collected

revenues,

there

is

likely

to

be

an

increase

in

the

analysis

of

sub-national

aspects

of

public

finance.

These

sophisticated

essays

challenge

some

of

the

established

myths.

Two

deal

with

the

use

of

fiscal

policy

for

economic

stabilization.

One

demonstrates

the

mag-

nitude

of

regional

variations

in

rates

of

unemployment

and

the

unexpected

effec-

tiveness

of

regionally

oriented

fiscal

measures.

The

second

explores

the

proposition

that

the

effect

of

state

and

local

financial

transactions

accentuates

&dquo;b~aom

and

bust.&dquo;

The

analysis

suggests

that this

view

is

correct

only

during

economic

upturns.

The

third

essay,

considering

the

alleged

regressivity

of

state-local

taxes,

con-

cludes

that

the

net

effect

of

considering

both

taxation

and

expenditure

by

state

and

local

governments

is

probably

favorable to

low

income

groups.

The

fourth

explores

the

treatment

of

state-local

nonbusiness

taxes

and

concludes

that

only

state-local

income

taxes

should

be

considered

for

special

treatment

under

the

federal

income

tax

and

that

a

tax

credit

rather

than

an

income

deduction

should

be

allowed.

The

final

paper

is

addressed

to

the

analysis

of

voter

responses

to

fiscal

referenda

in

New

York

State

in

terms

of

ethnic,

economic,

and

other

criteria.

There

is

substantial

merit

and

significant

effort

reflected

in

this

volume.

Its

conclusions

are

tentative

but

stimulating.

This

is

not

a

definitive

work

but

it

pioneers

in

an

important

area.

It

can

be

expected

that

there

will

be

other

explora-

tions

of

the

complex

of

fiscal

federalism.

Salem,

Oregon

FREEMAN

HOLMER

The

Mexican

Political

System.

By

L.

VINCENT

PADGETT.

(Boston:

Houghton

Mifflin

Company,

1966.

Pg. viii, 244.

$2.75.)

L.

Vincent

Padgett

offers

a

book

&dquo;about

several

keys

to

the

political

nature

of

the

Mexican

system,&dquo;

but

does

not

(nor

did

he

intend

to)

present

a

comprehensive

study

of

the

Mexican

system

such

as

the

fuller

treatment

of

Chilean

government