THE GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT

Robert Higgs's Crisis and Leviathan argues that there is a ratchet eff ect both after major wars and other serious crises, such as depression s: attitudinal or ideological changes lead not only to greater governm ent spending but greater intrusion of government into economic command and control. Higgs's explanation of the growth of government, however , is embedded in and driven by a particular ideological view of the le gal-economic world, one that misapprehends certain legal-economic fund amentals, including the scope of economic command and control, and tha t fails to deal with certain interpretive complexities, including alte rnative explanations.