Growth of government expenditure

This article examines empirically the secular growth of the government sector in the United States since World War II. Like a similar study of Canadian federal government expenditures, this article also considers both the economic and political dimensions of the issue, but it incorporates additional factors peculiar to the United States, such as military spending and the Reagan era. The study finds that: (1) Military spending and real income growth are the primary determinants of the growth of government expenditures' share of GNP; (2) To a lesser extent, perceived economic problems, government employment, the proportion of the elderly population, and elite preferences also play some part in explaining governmental growth in the United States; and (3) While the Reagan presidency had some impact on the purchases of government goods and services, it had little effect in restraining overall government expansion

Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Economy · Elite · Goods and services · Government (linguistics · Government spending · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Presidency · Sociology · Welfare · Demography · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Local Government Finance and Decentralization

• Government Growth in the United States

  Michael S Lewis-Beck, Tom W Rice•The Journal of Politics•1985

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