Bigger Government: The Future Of Government Expenditure in Advanced Economies

by Marc Robinson

FINANCIAL TIMES BEST ECONOMICS BOOKS OF 2020 Advanced nations are headed for a new era of bigger government, with government expenditure set to increase enormously over the next three decades. In all advanced economies, health spending will be driven irresistibly upward by the costs of precision medicine and other new technologies, as well as the need to restore the capacity of the health system to deal with shocks like that the world is facing at present. Governments will also be compelled to spend big on fighting global warming, fixing ailing infrastructure and providing adequate aged care for a rapidly graying population. The combined effect of these and other spending pressures threatens to drive budget deficits and government debt through the roof. Substantial tax increases will be necessary, most of all in the low-tax United States. Pruning welfare spending will also be high on the policy agenda in countries with the most comprehensive welfare states. Printing money – as proposed by advocates of modern monetary theory – is not a solution, but a sure route to disaster. Faced with this reality, the political right must abandon pipedreams of smaller government. The left, on the other hand, needs to recognize that there is no room or need for costly projects like a universal basic income. Mankind is not facing the threat of mass technological unemployment, and government spending needs to be focused on addressing real problems rather than imaginary ones.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Politics

394 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2020

About the author

Marc Robinson is a consultant who has worked with more than thirty countries to improve their government budgeting systems. Previously in his career he was a senior civil servant, a professor of economics, and a staff economist at the International Monetary Fund. He is a member of the OECD Advisory Panel on Budgeting and Public Expenditure.

Marc holds a PhD and a Masters of Economics. He is a dual Swiss and Australian citizen, and lives in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

The website of the book Bigger Government is biggergovernment.com.

Reviews

[Dominic Cowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, proposing that Government expenditure is going to rise significantly in the coming years/decades, predominantly because of health and long-term care (but also in other areas, whether that be education, welfare etc). The author argues that the inevitable response to this will be significant tax rises for the majority of people, if we are to avoid large Government deficits that would eventually snowball.

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book for all those interested in government budget spending, covers topics such as health, education, social security, climate change and infrastructure.
This has a focus on developed countries but comments on realities that may apply to many other countries in the not so distant future.
It was written on a vast bibliography, with many citations and relevant contributions, which makes it very interesting for those economists who work developing or thinking about public policies.