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Government Expenditure and Quality of Life

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  • Scully, Gerald W

Abstract

Most of the empirical work on the optimal size of the fiscal state has linked the level of taxation to economic growth. In this paper the level of government consumption expenditure that yields the maximum physical quality of life is found, along with those expenditures that cause equality between marginal benefit and marginal government expenditure out of GNP. Careful attention is paid to the measurement of the physical quality of life, the weighing of the attributes in the construction of an aggregate index of quality of life, and in the functional (parametric) form of the nonlinear equations utilized to calculate marginal benefit. The conclusion of the paper is that government consumption expenditure is considerably higher than is necessary to maximize the physical quality of life, and that a reduction in government consumption expenditure would not lower quality of life. Copyright 2001 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

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  • Scully, Gerald W, 2001. "Government Expenditure and Quality of Life," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 108(1-2), pages 123-145, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:108:y:2001:i:1-2:p:123-45
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    Cited by:

    1. Chae-jeong Lee, 2021. "Effects of Government Characteristics on the Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 563-579, September.
    2. Kristof Witte & Wim Moesen, 2010. "Sizing the government," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 39-55, October.
    3. Ariel Herbert Fambeu & Georges Dieudonné Mbondo & Patricia Tchawa Yomi, 2022. "Bigger or better? The effect of public spending on happiness in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(4), pages 487-499, December.
    4. Seoyong Kim & Donggeun Kim, 2012. "Does Government Make People Happy?: Exploring New Research Directions for Government’s Roles in Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 875-899, October.

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