《公共經濟學雜志》的目的是鼓勵對公共經濟學問題做出原創的科學貢獻，特別強調現代經濟理論和定量分析方法的應用。它為國際讀者提供了一個討論公共政策的論壇。一經要求，出版商可提供包含卷1-50的主索引。

The aim of the Journal of Public Economics is to encourage original scientific contributions on the problems of public economics, with particular emphasis on the application of modern economic theory and methods of quantitative analysis. It provides a forum for discussion of public policy of interest to an international readership.A master index encompassing volumes 1-50 is available from the publisher upon request.