Between 1890 and 1938, the public share of total spending rose to unprecedented peacetime levels in many Western countries. This development has been explained by either (i) a shift in the demand for public goods or (ii) a restructuring of the state to transfer income. However, neither...

Comment peut-on expliquer que la part des dépenses publiques dans le PNB en temps de paix ait doublé dans plusieurs économies occidentales entre 1910 et 1938? Les dates éloignées de l'introduction du suffrage universel pour les hommes et l'évidence d'un protectionnisme croissant pendant...

Neither democracy nor globalization can explain the doubling of the peacetime public share in many Western countries between World Wars I and II. Here we examine two other explanations that are consistent with the timing of the observed changes, namely, (1) a shift in the demand for public goods...