Does 'Wagner's Law' Hold for Middle Eastern Countries?

Soumaya M Tohamy

Public Finance = Finances publiques, 1999, vol. 54, issue 1-2, 99-113

Abstract: "Wagner's law" of expanding state activity has been extensively studied in the literature. Abizadeh and Gray (1985) use government spending and conclude that Wagner's law holds for developing countries, but not for poor or developed countries. The World Bank classifies Middle Eastern countries as middle-income countries. Therefore, most of them would be considered developing countries. Using IMF country GDP and government expenditure and consumption data, I test Wagner's law for Middle Eastern countries. Less than a third of them display increasing spending with income. This refutes the traditional interpretation of Wagner's law that measures government activity narrowly through government spending.

Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pfi:pubfin:v:54:y:1999:i:1-2:p:99-113

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