"Wagner’s law" is tested on long runs of data for Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The results suggest that in each country nominal and real GDP, nominal and real GDP per capita, and nominal and real government expenditure are non-stationary series in their l

This paper analyzes endogenous fiscal policy in an endogenous growth model where agents care about social status and environmental quality. The quest for a higher status is assimilated to a preference for capital wealth. The government uses income tax to finance infrastructure and environmental...

Starting from the secular fact of an increasing government's share, a retrospective on Adolph Wagner's writings seems worthwhile. A leading German economist of the Bismarck era, he first formulated the famous "law of increasing state activity" for industrializing nations. After analyzing his way...