The Size of Government: A Comparative Study

The appropriate role and size of the government have been controversial issues since, at least, the 19th century. No doubt that the government perceptions and policies have substantially been changed. Since the First World War the government engagement in the economies has been expanded. The inception of the social security systems, followed by the government programs and after the Great recession and then Second World War, the governments expenditures have been grown dramatically. In fact, Post-second World War era inevitably emphasized on the role of the state in economic affairs, social security and so on. The government involvement resulted in a dramatic growh of GDP in the industrial countries in 1960s and 1970s. 1980 s and 1990s and the early years of the twenty –first century show different development path for the role and the size of the governments. This article based on the facts of Iran’s and some selective countries experiences and theoretical considerations in Public economics, tries to Provide a comparative account of the optimum size of the government. Some indices are introduced for the optimum size of the government.