What do governments spend money on? In the chart, we see spending in different categories, such as defense, health, and education, as a share of total government spending. This is shown for a selection of OECD countries. For some categories, such as public services, the share https://t.co/IBJ0QgoBLP
Ancien régime Europe certainly spent heavily on its armies and navies, and their use in war accounted for some 54 per cent of public spending in the European monarchies during the eighteenth century.
Government consumption spending, education spending, and health care spending overlap to some extent, but in total, without double counting, they still exceed 25 percent of U.S. GDP.
So let’s sum up. Government consumption spending, education spending, and health care spending overlap to some extent, but in total, without double counting, they still exceed 25 percent of U.S. GDP. They are also three of our most rapidly growing sectors, and at least two of them—health care and education—ought to be two of our most dynamic sector
... See moreAll spending is spending, in the naive economics of Keynesians, and so it matters not if that spending comes from individuals feeding their families or governments murdering foreigners: it all counts in aggregate demand and it all reduces unemployment! As an increasing number of people went hungry during the depression, all major governments spent
... See morespending by America's Federal Government (adding in state and local governments significantly increased the total) was around 24% of national income whilst tax revenues were 15% of national income. That left a near-record peacetime budget deficit to be financed by borrowing of 9% of GDP.
