What do you think?
Rate this book
Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, 25th Anniversary Edition
350 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2012
About the author
Robert Higgs
71 books70 followersRobert Higgs is an American economic historian and economist combining material from Public Choice, the New Institutional economics, and the Austrian school of economics; and a libertarian anarchist in political and legal theory and public policy. His writings in economics and economic history have most often focused on the causes, means, and effects of government power and growth.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 28, 2026
The United States was founded on the principle of limited government. Author Robert Higgs* thus laments its vast expansion over the past century. Higgs’s central thesis (which has been referred to as his Ratchet Theory) is as follows: A succession of crises have come with monumental growth in the scope and power of the State. Although each crisis eventually subsides, a residue of the expanded governmental functions and authority remains.
The first half of the book starts by discussing various explanations for said growth. For example, the Modernization Hypothesis contends that the modern, industrial economy requires an active and extensive government to manage complexity. Higgs argues, to the contrary, that a complicated economy actually requires government and centralized planning, and more free market vis-a-vis the information (e.g., prices and profit margins) transmitted by millions of consumers and producers. Thereafter Higgs makes the important point that a necessary condition of growth is political ideology. Flag words (aka trigger words) used by ideologues or the media, such as “inequality”, “living wage”, etc. are signals of an ideology of government as arbiter of fairness, parent, and provider. The first half concludes with the four stages of expansion: (1) precrisis normality; (2) crisis surge and immediate expansion; (3) partial retrenchment; and (4) the new post-crisis normality.
The latter half of this book dives into specific episodes of growth. The initial example, perhaps tellingly, is an instance of crisis without growth due to the lack of the aforesaid ideology. From 1893 to 1896 the country faced a severe economic depression. Such was a time, however, wherein the ideology was of limited government and classical liberalism - led by President Grover Cleveland, a conservative Democrat (part of the conservative faction known as the Bourbon Democrats). Contrast that with various crises that came thereafter during times where the ideology and Zeitgeist were notably different: World War 1, the Great Depression, and World War 2. The ratchet continued to turn thereafter from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s tenure through that of President Jimmy Carter. Today, Americans find some form of government (federal, state, and local) involved in nearly every aspect of their lives.
*To be clear, Higgs disaffirms the notion of him being an anarchist (at least in 1987 when the book was originally published). Rather, he believed in the necessity of government to protect liberty and private property rights. Per Ludwig Von Mises: Government is a necessary evil in that without it no lasting social cooperation and no civilization could be developed and preserved. A strong but limited government allows citizens to be productive and free.
The first half of the book starts by discussing various explanations for said growth. For example, the Modernization Hypothesis contends that the modern, industrial economy requires an active and extensive government to manage complexity. Higgs argues, to the contrary, that a complicated economy actually requires government and centralized planning, and more free market vis-a-vis the information (e.g., prices and profit margins) transmitted by millions of consumers and producers. Thereafter Higgs makes the important point that a necessary condition of growth is political ideology. Flag words (aka trigger words) used by ideologues or the media, such as “inequality”, “living wage”, etc. are signals of an ideology of government as arbiter of fairness, parent, and provider. The first half concludes with the four stages of expansion: (1) precrisis normality; (2) crisis surge and immediate expansion; (3) partial retrenchment; and (4) the new post-crisis normality.
The latter half of this book dives into specific episodes of growth. The initial example, perhaps tellingly, is an instance of crisis without growth due to the lack of the aforesaid ideology. From 1893 to 1896 the country faced a severe economic depression. Such was a time, however, wherein the ideology was of limited government and classical liberalism - led by President Grover Cleveland, a conservative Democrat (part of the conservative faction known as the Bourbon Democrats). Contrast that with various crises that came thereafter during times where the ideology and Zeitgeist were notably different: World War 1, the Great Depression, and World War 2. The ratchet continued to turn thereafter from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s tenure through that of President Jimmy Carter. Today, Americans find some form of government (federal, state, and local) involved in nearly every aspect of their lives.
*To be clear, Higgs disaffirms the notion of him being an anarchist (at least in 1987 when the book was originally published). Rather, he believed in the necessity of government to protect liberty and private property rights. Per Ludwig Von Mises: Government is a necessary evil in that without it no lasting social cooperation and no civilization could be developed and preserved. A strong but limited government allows citizens to be productive and free.
Displaying 1 of 1 review