Abstract

The „new" approach to public finance represents rather a step back than an improvement. It suffers from the insufficiencies of its neoclassical basis, which are due to the origin of neoclassicism in classical mechanics: determinism, mechanism and timelessness. Furthermore, the „new" public finance confined itself to a narrow range of aims - efficiency and equity with the emphasis on the former - and often assumes a benevolent and perfectly working political apparatus. Therefore, its policy recommendations are completely irrealistic and hence ignored in fiscal policy. In contrast, the pragmatic approach of the „old" public finance is much more promising, despite some shortcomings. It is recommended as a preliminary public finance approach until the necessary „social" reconstruction of economics is accomplished.