Legislative production and public spending in France

François Facchini () and Elena Seghezza ()

Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL

Abstract: The aim of this article is to help explain the history of the public spending-to-GDP ratio in France by examining the production of laws and regulations. It empirically finds a positive and significant relationship between the number of pages in the Official Gazette of the French Republic and the development of the public expenditure-to-GDP ratio. We rely on the number of pages in the Official Gazette as a proxy for the cost of implementing laws and regulations. If unchecked, a proliferation of laws and regulations expands public spending. Over the period 1905–2015, a 10% increase in pages caused a 1.14% increase in the public expenditure-to-GDP ratio.

Keywords: Public spending; Law; “Self-reinforcing” process; Dépenses publiques; Histoire économique -- France; Inflation législative (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03051879
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Published in Public Choice, 2021, 189, pp.71-91. ⟨10.1007/s11127-020-00858-7⟩

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Journal Article: Legislative production and public spending in France (2021)
Working Paper: Legislative production and public spending in France (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-03051879

DOI: 10.1007/s11127-020-00858-7

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