Re: I agree with Tim Worstall
What I find interesting is the coincidence between Government spending as a percentage of GDP and the whole of the country (poor and rich alike) getting better off.
ST7,
Could be an interesting piece for a book. Well enormous academic economic tome I guess... Bloody hard to get good figures for.
Remember that national income and standards of living also rocketed during the 19th Century, and yet government spending didn't. Although given we spend lots on benefits for the very poorest in society, there's bound to be a strong causation for them doing better the higher government spending is.
There's bound to be a point where extra government spending makes everyone poorer, for example the Soviet Union. And there's also probably a large time lag effect.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
