The Editor: Jürgen G. Backhaus, born in 1950, JSD 1976, Ph.D. (Econ) 1985, holds the Krupp Chair in Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology at Erfurt University since 2000. Between 1986 and 2000 he has held the chair in Public Economics at Maastricht University. In September 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Thessaly (Greece). The author has published 53 books and monographs, about 200 articles in refereed journals and book chapters, scholarly notes and a huge number of reviews. His research interests span economics, but also neighbouring disciplines such as law, fiscal sociology and environmental sciences.

• Contents: Jürgen G. Backhaus: Introduction – Jürgen G. Backhaus: Fiscal Sociology: What For? – Richard E. Wagner: States and the Crafting of Souls: Mind, Society, and Fiscal Sociology – Michael McLure: Approaches to Fiscal Sociology – Giuseppe Eusepi: Public Finance and Welfare: From the Ignorance of the Veil to the Veil of Ignorance – Alexander Ebner: Institutions, Entrepreneurship, and the Rationale of Government: An Outline of the Schumpeterian Theory of the State – Richard E. Wagner: Polycentric Public Finance and the Organization of Governance – Francesco Forte: Fiscal and Monetary Illusion and the Maastricht Rules – Jürgen G. Backhaus: The Impact of Equity Driven Policy Measures on the Equity of the State – Norio Sasaki: German Fiscal Sociology’s Influence on Japan – Norio Sasaki: Goldscheid’s Menschenökonomie from a Modern Perspective – Enrico Schöbel: A Fiscal Sociological Theory of Tax Evasion on the Basis of Adam Smith and Otto Veit – Helge Peukert: Justi’s Moral Economics and his System of Taxation (1766) – Helge Peukert: Fritz Karl Mann (1883-1979) – Helge Peukert: Critical Remarks on Joseph E. Stiglitz.