Durevall, Dick; Henrekson, Magnus - In: Journal of Public Economics 95 (2011) 7-8, pp. 708-722
This paper carries out a critical reappraisal of the two contending theories purporting to explain long-run government spending: Wagner's Law and different variants of the ratchet effect. We analyze data spanning from the early 19th century until the present day in Sweden and the United Kingdom....