Is the pendulum swinging back? Policy and politics in the return of big government

Marco Magnani and Gilberto Seravalli
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Gilberto Seravalli: Department of Economics University of Parma, Italy

Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, 2009, vol. 117, issue 1, 61-84

Abstract: In the era of «small government», policy was considered the right way to conceive the role of the state in society and in the economy. This was intended as a perspective able to reduce the room for politics, considered a (dangerous) clash of power and party interests, and ideology. Given the current return of «big government», how does one deal with the unavoidable return of politics? In this paper we construct a model showing that politics should be considered purposely in a rational setting, to support effective policy, insofar as the state and its activities need substantial consensus.

Keywords: Politics; policy-making; local public goods; redistributive policies; elections (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H11 H40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vep:journl:y:2009:v:117:i:1:p:61-84

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