Growth of Local Government in the United States

Abstract

The growth of government has been a topic of interest to public finance and public choice scholars for decades, but most of that interest has focused on the growth of total government, or in the U.S., the federal government, in the 20th century. This focus is understandable, because of the substantial growth in government worldwide in the 20th century. (Borcherding 1977, Borcherding 1985) examines government growth in the public choice tradition, focusing on 20th century federal government growth, and the influential studies of Peacock and Wiseman (1961) and Higgs (1987) incorporate political institutions into their analysis of 20th century central government growth. Campbell (1995), Holcombe (1999), Musgrave and Culbertson (1953), and Wallis (2000) are other examples of studies with this focus on 20th century federal government growth. Hughes (1977) and Holcombe (2002) have a public choice orientation, and are unusual in that they examine government growth prior to the 20th century. Local government grew in the 20th century also, but the real story of local government growth in the United States began in the 19th century.