It's awfully hard to wrap your mind around a sum that large. But converting it to a more bite-size representation can affect a voter's willingness to support government spending.
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Articles on government spending
Displaying 1 - 20 of 33 articles
The campaign shows promise. But it's not clear if it will preempt and respond to people's concern about vaccine safety.
Spending decisions can often be explained by looking at who voted for the party in government.
Congress is spending trillions of dollars trying to rescue the US economy and support workers and businesses. Can America afford it? 'No sweat,' according to modern monetary theory.
State and local government jobs are being axed, public schools won't get money the state planned to send them, and fire and police departments budgets are being slashed. All because of the pandemic.
Canada's federal deficit has ballooned as Ottawa spends billions in response to the coronavirus pandemic. An economist explains why the massive spending will not harm Canadians in the future.
Why most debt and deficit projections are still way too upbeat.
In the aftermath of the election, what is striking about many of the policy positions of Canada's federal parties is their timidity, especially when it comes to climate change.
The UK has fallen victim to drones, chemical weapons and cyber-attacks in recent years. But at least it's got a really big boat.
Pork-barrel spending – that often reviled custom otherwise known as 'earmarks' – may well help Congress pass bills on schedule. Banned since 2011, they may be making a comeback.
The cuts to higher education funding are more about making savings than improving higher education, and would be extremely hard to change in the future.
President Trump recently released his tax plan, but he's also said he wants to stimulate the economy with infrastructure spending. Is one more effective than the other at boosting growth?
Australia has the third most expensive education system in the OECD, but we might not be getting what we pay for.
Trump should drop his plans to cut taxes and instead look to some of our closest friends to learn what policies actually work to build and sustain a vibrant middle class.
The government is reinforcing the dichotomy between "them" and "us" with this budget's welfare changes, but it lacks solid evidence of effectiveness.
Total government spending has increased over time. But the pressure on the budget under a Turnbull government is more acute now than ever before, because spending is outpacing revenue.
If you look at past budgets, the proposed cuts in social security programs are disproportionate to the amount the government spends.
We need to redirect government spending on crime prevention to programs and policies that the research tells us are most effective.
Modern monetary theory is gaining traction in a global economic environment that defies the efforts of policymakers to restore growth.
National governments do not, and should not, behave like a private household.
Top contributors
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John Daley is a Friend of The Conversation.Senior Fellow, Grattan Institute
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Peter Whiteford is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Professor, Griffith Business School, Griffith University
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Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute
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Affiliate Professor of Economics, Colorado State University
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Professor of Institutional Economics, RMIT University
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Professorial Fellow in the Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University
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Professor of Economics, University of Canberra
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Productivity Growth Program Director, Grattan Institute
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Economist at Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University
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Research Fellow in Philosophy, Cognitive Science and AI, University of Cambridge
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Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia
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Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University
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Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, and Bankwest Research Chair in Economic Policy, Curtin University
