Government Spending

Government spending research papers are custom written to address the federal, state and local spending habits of the government. Paper Masters custom writes research papers to focus on the economic topics you need written on.

Government spending is the total of all consumption, investment, and transfer of monies undertaken by a ruling structure. Government spending can be financed in several ways, including taxation, borrowing, or seigniorage, in which securities are exchanged by the government with the central bank for bank notes, also known as debt monetization. Changes in government spending are a key component of a nation's fiscal policy and may be a reflection of a government's reaction to business cycles.

Keynes on Government Spending

Economist John Maynard Keynes first argued that governments pursue policies of deficit spending as a reaction to economic downturns. This theory was put into practice during the Great Depression by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who increased government spending in order to stimulate the economy and provide jobs for the unemployed. The stimulus program initiated in 2009 under President Obama was another example of deficit government spending.

In the United States, government spending occurs on several levels, including:

• Spending on the the federal level
• State government spending
• Local and municipality spending budgets

At the federal level, there is both mandatory and discretionary spending. Mandatory spending, some two-thirds of the federal budget, is required by permanent law and includes such things as Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. The remaining one-third of government spending is discretionary, used to fund the military or infrastructure.