{"title":"What's ideological about limited government?","authors":"Christian Bjørnskov","doi":"10.1111/ecaf.12689","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The findings in the literature on the influence of government ideology on economic freedom are mixed. How to aggregate or disaggregate measures of limited government is an open question and causality remains a problem in most studies. This article employs data on government spending and regulation using a new disaggregation scheme developed by Ryan Murphy, and employs a causal strategy relying on comparing general results with results after close elections. The empirical findings indicate that government investment and ownership are affected by government ideology while a statistically significant association with government spending probably reflects the reverse causal direction.</p>","PeriodicalId":44825,"journal":{"name":"ECONOMIC AFFAIRS","volume":"45 1","pages":"2-16"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ECONOMIC AFFAIRS","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecaf.12689","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The findings in the literature on the influence of government ideology on economic freedom are mixed. How to aggregate or disaggregate measures of limited government is an open question and causality remains a problem in most studies. This article employs data on government spending and regulation using a new disaggregation scheme developed by Ryan Murphy, and employs a causal strategy relying on comparing general results with results after close elections. The empirical findings indicate that government investment and ownership are affected by government ideology while a statistically significant association with government spending probably reflects the reverse causal direction.
期刊介绍:
Economic Affairs is a journal for those interested in the application of economic principles to practical affairs. It aims to stimulate debate on economic and social problems by asking its authors, while analysing complex issues, to make their analysis and conclusions accessible to a wide audience. Each issue has a theme on which the main articles focus, providing a succinct and up-to-date review of a particular field of applied economics. Themes in 2008 included: New Perspectives on the Economics and Politics of Ageing, Housing for the Poor: the Role of Government, The Economic Analysis of Institutions, and Healthcare: State Failure. Academics are also invited to submit additional articles on subjects related to the coverage of the journal. There is section of double blind refereed articles and a section for shorter pieces that are reviewed by our Editorial Board (Economic Viewpoints). Please contact the editor for full submission details for both sections.