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This book presents a holistic, comprehensive discussion of a highly relevant topic in economics: public expenditure, its history, value for money, related risks and remedies. It discusses the arguments and facts in a non-technical manner, with many tables and charts, for students, professionals and the interested public alike.
List of contents
Introduction; Part I. The Growth of Government: 1. The Growth of Government Expenditure Over the Past 150 Years; 2. The Composition of Expenditure; 3. Financing Government; Part II. Value for Money: 4. Government Performance and Efficiency; 5. Reforming Public Expenditure; 6. The Optimal Size of Government; Part III. Fiscal Risks: 7. Social Expenditure and the Risk of 'Social Dominance'; 8. Fiscal-Financial Risks 1: Interest Rate, Asset Markets and Real Economy Channels; 9. Fiscal-Financial Risks 2: Bank, Shadow Bank, Central Bank and International Channels; Part IV. Remedies: 10. Rules and Institutions; 11. Conclusions and Epilogue; Table of Data Sources; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Ludger Schuknecht is co-author of Public Spending in the 20th Century (2000), previously working as Deputy Secretary General of the OECD and Chief Economist of the German Federal Ministry of Finance.
Summary
This book presents a holistic, comprehensive discussion of a highly relevant topic in economics: public expenditure, its history, value for money, related risks and remedies. It discusses the arguments and facts in a non-technical manner, with many tables and charts, for students, professionals and the interested public alike.
Additional text
'This wonderful book deals with the growing role of public expenditure, and the function of governments as such. It is comprehensive, covering all OECD countries and overseeing a long period of time. A very rich set of data is presented in terms of graphs and tables, and the author's profound knowledge of economic theory at the same time offers a framework for understanding and evaluating a complex reality. For those who want to understand the basic trends of our time, the book is a must-read.' Hans-Werner Sinn, Ludwig Maximilian's University, Munich, Former President of IFO
