A U-Turn on the Road to Serfdom
eBook - ePub

A U-Turn on the Road to Serfdom

Prospects for Reducing the Size of the State

  1. 136 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

A U-Turn on the Road to Serfdom

Prospects for Reducing the Size of the State

About this book

This book suggests that drastic reforms are required to reverse the ever-increasing size of the state, a trend experienced in most western nations. The report proposes a reassessment of the scale of government to achieve a reduction in taxation and spending.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access A U-Turn on the Road to Serfdom by Grover Norquist in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
London Publishing Partnership
Year
2014
Print ISBN
9780255366861
eBook ISBN
9780255366694
Edition
1

The modern Leviathan state, its growth and consequences

David B. Smith
In his Hayek lecture, Grover Norquist talked about turning back on the road to serfdom. This chapter considers how far modern states have travelled down that road and examines the consequences in terms of prosperity forgone. The socialisation of the state, about which Grover Norquist talked, preceded the financial crash – and may have partly caused it – but then reached new heights in its wake. It is an open question whether it is possible to turn back. However, it would be enormously beneficial for economic performance and social welfare if we could.
Any attempt to quantify the economic footprint of the state is bedevilled by numerous data difficulties (see Smith 2006). However, the broad trends are sufficiently marked to suggest that the increased role of government was probably the main structural development of the 20th and 21st centuries. This can be seen from Table 1, which uses Tanzi and Schuknecht (2000) for the historical figures, updated using the December 2013 OECD Economic Outlook. Although there are some noticeable inconsistencies between the two sources for individual countries, these appear to be largely offsetting when looking at the average figures for the twelve developed nations for which a continuous record is available (see bottom line).
Table 1Ratios of general government expenditure, including transfers, to money GDP at market prices (%)
...
1870
1913
1920
1937
1960
1980
2000
2010
2013
Australia
18.3
16.5
19.3
14.8
21.2
34.1
33.9
36.2
35.4
Austria
10.5
17.0
14.7
20.6
35.7
48.1
51.8
52.8
51.8
Belgium
–
13.8
–
21.8
30.3
58.6
49.1
52.5
54.2
Canada
–
–
16.7
25.0
28.6
38.8
40.5
43.3
41.4
France
12.6
17.0
27.6
29.0
34.6
46.1
51.6
56.6
57.0
Germany
10.0
14.8
25.0
34.1
32.4
47.9
45.1
48.0
44.5
Italy
13.7
17.1
30.1
31.1
30.1
42.1
45.8
50.4
51.4
Ireland
–
–
–
–
28.0
48.9
31.2
65.5
42.7
Japan
8.8
8.3
14.8
25.4
17.5
32.0
38.5
40.7
42.9
Netherlands
9.1
9.0
13.5
19.0
33.7
55.2
44.1
51.3
49.2
New Zealand
–
–
24.6
25.3
26.9

Table of contents

  1. The authors
  2. Foreword
  3. Acknowledgements
  4. Summary
  5. A U-turn on the road to serfdom: prospects for reducing the size of the state
  6. Questions and discussion
  7. The modern Leviathan state, its growth and consequences
  8. Taxpayers for fiscal decentralisation
  9. Fostering a European ‘leave us alone’ coalition
  10. About the IEA