The Method of Public Finance Theory and Its Alternatives
Derlytsia A. Y.

Derlytsia, Andrii Yu. (2020) “The Method of Public Finance Theory and Its Alternatives.” The Problems of Economy 4:305–311.
https://doi.org/10.32983/2222-0712-2020-4-305-311

Section: Finance and banking

UDC 336.115

Abstract:
The method of the public finance theory is understood as a set of the following components: initial positions and worldviews; specific research methods; and the ways to verify the results. The initial assumptions and worldviews of the Western public finance theory, modern Ukrainian public finance theory and its Soviet predecessor are compared. The difference of approaches within these theories concerning worldview is revealed, namely: their conceptual and philosophical basis (materialism / idealism); traditions of using the historical method; the role of the base and superstructure in financial science; focus on value / utility in studies dealing with the nature of fiscal phenomena; differences in interpreting the basic unit of analysis (individual, group, or class); the organic / mechanistic concepts of state used; explanation of the nature of the interaction between the basic units of analysis; attitude to the positive / normative approach. The methodological orientation of the Western financial thought on methodological individualism; that of the Soviet state finance theory on methodological holism, and the lack of precision in these issues of Ukraine’s modern financial science are mentioned. The author refers to the negative trend in assessing fiscal phenomena in Ukraine from the standpoint of state-centrism and the interests and needs of the state, which arises precisely on the basis of the holistic methodological attitudes and the predominance of the organic view of the state. It is shown that modern domestic financial science is still in transition. Due to its worldview, it is a theory of state finance (financial resources of the state), while the Western science is a theory of public finance (public funds, belonging to the society as a whole). The paper outlines the guidelines for further transforming the methodological foundations of financial science in Ukraine.

Keywords: method, methodological holism, methodological individualism, public finance, state finance.

Fig.: 1. Tabl.: 1. Bibl.: 14.

Derlytsia Andrii Yu. – Candidate of Sciences (Economics), Lecturer, Department of Finance and Economics, Podilsk Special Educational and Rehabilitation Socio-Economic College (13 Hodovantsia Str., Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi region, 32300, Ukraine)
Email: derlytsya@gmail.com

List of references in article

Mochernyi, S. V. Metodolohiia ekonomichnoho doslidzhennia [Methodology of Economic Research]. Lviv: Svit, 2001.
Blaug, M. Metodologiya ekonomicheskoy nauki, ili Kak ekonomisty obyasnyayut [Methodology of Economics, or As Economists Explain]. Moscow: NP «Zhurnal Voprosy ekonomiki», 2004.
Keyns, Dzh. N. Predmet i metod politicheskoy ekonomii [Subject and Method of Political Economy]. Moscow: Direktmedia Pablishing, 2008.
Blankart, Sh. Derzhavni finansy v umovakh demokratii: vstup do finansovoi nauky [Public Finance in a Democracy: An Introduction to Financial Science]. Kyiv: Lybid, 2000.
Biukenen, Dzh. M., and Mashreiv, R. A. Suspilni finansy i suspilnyi vybir: dva protylezhnykh bachennia derzhavy [Public Finances and Public Choice: Two Opposing Visions of the State]. Kyiv: KM Akademiia, 2004.
Biukenen, D. M. Sochineniya [Essays], vol. 1. Taurus Alfa, 1997.
Shumpeter, I. Kapitalizm, sotsializm i demokratiya [Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy]. Kyiv: Osnovy, 1995.
Ekelund, R., and Hebert, R. A History of Economic Theory and Method. Waveland Press, 2013.
Zeuthen, F. Economic Theory and Method. Harvard University Press, 2013.
Chukhno, A. A., Leonenko, P. M., and Yukhymenko, P. I. “Suchasna instytutsionalna teoriia ta finansova nauka“ [Modern Institutional Theory and Financial Science]. Finansy Ukrainy. 2012. http://nbuv.gov.ua/UJRN/Fu_2012_8_3
Andrushchenko, V. L. Finansova dumka Zakhodu v XX stolitti: (Teoretychna kontseptualizatsiia i naukova problematyka derzhavnykh finansiv) [Financial Thought of the West in the Twentieth Century: (Theoretical Conceptualization and Scientific Issues of Public Finance)]. Lviv: Kameniar, 2000.
Voznesenskiy, E. A. Finansy kak stoimostnaya kategoriya [Finance as a Value Category]. Moscow: Finansy i statistika, 1985.
Filatov, V. P. “Problemy poznaniya v rabotakh Karla Marksa“ [Problems of Cognition in the Works of Karl Marx]. Epistemologiya i filosofiya nauki. 2018. https://iphras.ru/uplfile/root/biblio/epst/03_2018/8-24.pdf
Rosen, H. S. Public Finance. Burr Ridge: IRWIN, 1992.