Defending Government : Why Big Government Works

by Neiman, Max

• ISBN13: 9780133730449
• ISBN10: 0133730441
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-30
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This book explores the decline in public trust in government, and the efforts of the public to use the powers of democratic governing to improve the lives of peopleespecially people who require such government intervention.It focuses on the debate over government size and the role of the public sector, with a look at the implications of unqualified disdain for politics, institutions, public servants, elected officials, and the very process of democracy itself. A look at the key and current issues helps expose the anti-democratic sentiments that underlie much conservative criticism of government size.For individuals who want to make their lives more rewarding, productive, and justthrough the use of the tools of governing indemocraticallyorganized societies.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
An Introduction to the Issues	1	(12)
Approaches to the Explanation of Government Growth	7	(2)
Organization of the Book	9	(4)
How Big Has Government Gotten in the United States	13	(30)
The Need for Context	13	(3)
Growth in Levels, Proportions, and Burdens: The Fiscal Dimension	16	(19)
The Growth of Government Regulation	35	(8)
Macro-Deterministic Explanations of Government Growth	43	(25)
Changes in Social and Demographic Characteristics of the Population and in the Scale and Growth of Government	44	(3)
Some Frequently Used Macro-Deterministic Approaches	47	(15)
Marxist Explanations of Government Growth	62	(6)
Public Choice Explanations of Government Size and Growth	68	(19)
The Political Economy Origin of Public Choice	68	(2)
A Marriage of Convenience: Government as a Tool to Increase Market Efficiency	70	(1)
Market Failure: When Government Should and Does Grow, According to Public Choice Theorists	71	(7)
Can Remedying Market Failure Lead to Government Failure?	78	(9)
For Whom the Evidence Matters: Conclusions Regarding the Causes of Government Growth	87	(28)
Wagner's Hypothesis	88	(2)
Peacock and Wiseman: The Displacement Effect	90	(5)
Democratization and Institutional Change	95	(1)
Public Choice Explanations	96	(17)
Explanations of Government Growth: Some Conclusions	113	(2)
Blaming Government: The Case of Economic Performance	115	(17)
Government Size, Growth, and Economic Performance	116	(13)
Conclusions	129	(3)
Does an Active Government Necessarily mean Oppressive Government?	132	(25)
Labor and Consumers	141	(3)
White Collar Crime	144	(4)
Expensive Lessons, Expensive Reruns	148	(2)
The Discounted Marketplace	150	(7)
Hilter Didn't Come to Power via the Health Department	157	(25)
The Big Brother Road to Dictatorship	157	(4)
The Antigovernment Spin	161	(8)
Consider This Perverse Argument	169	(8)
Meaning and Interpretation	177	(5)
Being Dismal in Policy Analysis or Learning to Love Policymaking	182	(26)
The Flight from Politics	182	(1)
Fretting about Democracy and Redistributive Demands	183	(3)
Public Choice and Metropolitan Organization	186	(8)
Rational Models as Blueprints and the Lack of Resource Fluidity	194	(7)
A Realistic Role for Policy Analysis	201	(1)
Limited Government as a Common Property Resource	202	(3)
Being Rational Is a Difficult and Sometimes Undersirable Thing to Try	205	(3)
The Freedom to Choose Democratic Politics	208	(14)
Summary	211	(3)
Issues Regarding Future Public Sector Involvement	214	(4)
Some Remedies for Some Problems	218	(4)
References	222	(27)
Index	249