Public Subsidies and Policy Failure : How Subsidies Distort the Natural Environment, Equity and Trade and How to Reform Them

Alongside the collection of taxes, the allocation of subsidies is often regarded as a fundamental role of governments in order to realize and maintain benefits to society. The possibility that public subsidies could actually be counterproductive contradicts common perception. The authors of this book present recent evidence which, in their view, suggests that subsidies may in fact turn out to be a contemporary plague.