Developments in the Field of Public Economics from Past to Present and Expectations Regarding Future

In the last 50 years, there has been significant change and development in the field of public economics. The major change in public economics is the transformation of the field from a macroeconomic based and Keynesian oriented one into an applied area of microeconomics. Thus, its domain and tools have expanded considerable and gone beyond the mere study of public revenues and tax analysis. Along with this transformation, the perception of the state, its role and effectiveness in the economy have changed substantially as well. Within the last three decades, liberalization and globalization trends redefined the role of state and the field of public economics, and have gone on to redefine. The goal of this study is to evaluate development of the field beginning from the 19th century especially in the last 50 years, to analyze forefront issues in the public economics literature, and to predict subjects that may become major research areas in the future.