Ideology and the Growth of Government

Andrew Pickering and James Rockey

Bristol Economics Discussion Papers from School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK

Abstract: We analyze the impact of ideology on the size of government. In a simple model the government sets redistribution and provision of public services according to the preferences of the median voter, for whom private consumption is a necessity. Ideology is defined on preferences for public services and the impact of ideology upon the size of government increases with mean income. In empirical work ideology is measured using data based on party manifestos. Much of the increases and divergence in government size observed across OECD countries can be explained by the interaction of ideology and mean income.

Keywords: ideology; Wagner's law; size of government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2007-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-pbe and nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Journal Article: Ideology and the Growth of Government (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bri:uobdis:07/599

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