I Introduction and overview -- Contemporary public economics -- II Economics of public programs -- The changing economic status of U.S. disabled men:Trends and their determinants, 1982-1991 -- The role of labour demand elasticities in tax incidence analysis with heterogeneous labour. -- III Tax leakages and efficiency -- Modelling the hidden economy and the tax-gap in New Zealand -- Tax efficiency in selected Indian states -- IV Do governments act in the interest of their constituents? -- Tax reforms and the growth of government -- Empirics of the median voter hypothesis in Japan -- v Optimality of the public capital stock -- Estimates of optimal public capital stocks in Japan using a public investment discount rate framework -- On the long run effect of public capital on aggregate output: Estimation and sensitivity analysis.