Publisher's Synopsis
The purpose of this study is to explain the expansion of government expenditure in Sweden, going as far back as data availability permits (1861). It applies modern time-series econometrics for the first time to the explanation of two of the oldest and most frequently cited explanations to the growth of government, namely, Wagner?s Law. It also develops a new disequilibrium framework in order to identify whether supply or demand factors are most important in explaining government growth. Part I consists of a test of two classical theories of government growth: Wagner?s Law and the displacement effect hypothesis and Part II attempts to identify the most important factors behind the growth of government in Sweden since 1950. The author also identifies a number of variables potentially important to the explanation of the growth of government. Each variable is classified to pertain either to the supply or demand side.
