WAGNER'S LAW, FISCAL INSTITUTIONS, AND THE GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT

Richard E. Wagner · Warren E. Weber

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Fiscal Policies and Political Economy Economic and Fiscal Studies Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth

Abstract

By examining empirically the growth of government in 34 nations during the post-World War II period, this paper explores whether it is appropriate to make references to such a phenomenon as "Wagner's Law of Expanding State Activity." The variation in patterns of growth in governmental spending is so substantial that one can only conclude that "Wagner's Law" cannot be considered a "law." Possible reformulations of the research agenda pertaining to the size and growth of government are then sketched. In short, it is suggested that attention should be turned to alternative paradigms for interpreting the disparate empirical evidence, especially focusing on the impact of alternative social institutions on patterns of government growth.

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References

1971Bureaucracy and Representative Government 1967PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: A TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS 1969Public Expenditures in Communist and Capitalist Nations.1975OUR NEW MONETARY STANDARD: THE MEASUREMENT AND EFFECTS OF PRICE UNCERTAINTY, 1880-1973

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2015Improving Governance for the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals: Scenario Forecasting the Next 50years 2020Causality between logistics infrastructure and economic development in China 2004Economic growth and government expenditure: evidence from a new test specification 2011The futile quest for a grand explanation of long-run government expenditure 1981Theorizing About the Growth of Government: A Research Assessment 2017Political Economy of Taxation 1993Public expenditure growth in Greece and Portugal: Wagner's law and beyond 1997Testing Wagner's law using disaggregated public expenditure data in the case of Greece: 1958-93

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