Public Expenditure in Socialist Thought

The demand that public spending should be kept high and frequently increased has long been one of the hallmarks of political movements of the left in virtually all industrial societies. It provides one of the very few points of consensus linking parties as far apart as the French Communists and the West German Social Democrats, and extends to the progressive wing of the United States Democratic party. Furthermore, it is a demand that has survived the radical changes in social circumstances fr...