The late Nobel Prize winner William Vickrey was one of the truly important figures in contemporary economics. Over the past fifty-five years he published several books and some 140 papers scattered over many journals. This book offers a thoughtful selection from these papers, organized to bring out the scope as well as the unity of the work. Vickrey had the unique distinction of having contributed, often seminally and always operationally, to all major branches of public economics. This is a fascinating overview of the field and of his life work.