THE STATE HAS BECOME TOO EXPENSIVE

The state has become all too expensive. It should be rolled back. This is a politically difficult matter to implement because the core polit ical actors - the political parties - must necessarily in order to sur vive in the political games pay attention to what is electorally meani ngful in the short term - even when the long term economic consequence s could be non-optimal. The logic of political logrolling and its adve rsial economic consequences are demonstrated. The reasons for the grow th of the state are analyzed and some measures to downsize the state a re discussed.