A critical appraisal of the theories of government expenditure growth

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: 1,7 (A-), Stellenbosch Universitiy (Economics), course: Public Finance, language: English, abstract: Explaining the phenomenon of the growth of government expenditure has always been a wide field in the science of Public Finance. The aim of those theories is not only to explain government growth but also to find solutions in order to distribute public expenses more efficiently and to derive the 'optimal' size of the government, finally. Before using these models and theories as a tool and vehicle one has to ask whether those theories are applicable in reality at all, because each theory has shortcomings and deficits which might lead to incorrect results and wrong decisions. The purpose of this paper is to reveal and discuss the most important criticism and to show that there does not exist a perfect theory which might explain government growth.