<i>‘Recent years have witnessed the “Return of the State” after decades of spreading neo-liberalism and market ideology. Bent Greve’s book is a very well written text able to capture the old and new roles of the public sector in contemporary societies. It provides interesting and valuable insights both for scholars and students into how the relationship between the state, the market and society has been evolving and the present and future challenges.’</i>

- Emmanuele Pavolini, University of Macerata, Italy,

<i>‘What is the public sector? Why is public spending necessary, and how is it funded and managed? Greve offers a clear, non-ideological account of the nature of the public sector in developed economies. His analysis of the complex connections between public and private, state and market, provides readers with a timely guide to this most fundamental of all relationships in the public sphere.’</i>

- Nick Ellison, University of York, UK,

<i>‘This book is an excellent guide for students and professionals in public and social policy, helping them to understand the economic issues in policy making. The key concepts in public sector economics are clearly presented, with explanations of current debates and references to the most recent literature. The multiple economic and social effects of public sector and welfare state measures, and their mutual relationships are also well explained. Bent Greve illuminates the conceptual debate with compelling empirical illustrations which spark and maintain the interest of the reader. Last, but not the least, Greve accentuates new important topics not commonly included in textbooks: the social investment perspective and the consequences of this for policy making, international influences on national public sector economics (including EMU), and current developmental challenges for the public sector such as societal ageing, external shocks on economies and technological change.’</i>

- Tomáš Sirovátka, Masaryk University, Czechia,