Publication

This paper discusses two theories that attempt to explain the consequences of government size. One such theory portrays government as a provider of public goods and as a corrector of externalities, while the other theory focuses on issues related bureaucracy and interest groups. The authors study the empirical significance of the differing theories by specifically examining the relationship between government size and environmental quality for 42 different countries between the period of 1971 and 1996. The paper finds that the results of such an examination do not prove conclusively that government size expansion is driven by factors other than the concern for the public good.