Harvey S. Rosen - Government Quotes

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Peoples views on how the government should conduct its financial operations are heavily influenced by their political philosophies.

Harvey S. Rosen
In this country, the number of individuals on the government payroll certainly underestimates the importance of government.

Harvey S. Rosen
Government is essentially a big computer that elicits from citizens their preferences and uses this information to produce social decisions.

Harvey S. Rosen
Public decision making is complicated and not well understood. Contrary to simple methods of democracy, there appear to be forces pulling government expenditures away from levels that would be preferred by the median voter.

Harvey S. Rosen
Government grows because low-income individuals use the political system to redistribute income toward themselves.

Harvey S. Rosen
Why should the central government be in the business of giving unconditional grants to states and localities? The usual response is that such grants can equalize the income distribution. It is not clear that this argument stands up under scrutiny. Even if a goal of public policy is to help poor people, it does not follow that the best way to do so is to help poor communities. After all, the chances that a community with a low average income will probably have some relatively rich members and vice versa. If the goal is to help the poor, why not give them the money directly?

Harvey S. Rosen