The True Size of Government

9780815752653

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Paul Charles Light

Genre Political Books & Current Events Books

Format Paperback

Dimensions 6.00 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.58 (d)

Pages 254

Publisher Brookings Institution Press

Publication Date January 1999

ISBN 9780815752653

Book ISBN 10 0815752652

About Book

This book addresses a seemingly simple question: Just how many people work for the federal government anyway? Congress and the president almost always answer the question by counting the number of full-time civil servants, which totaled 1.9 million when President Clinton declared the era of big government over in 1996. But, according to Paul Light, the true head count that year was nearly nine times higher than the official numbers, with about 17 million people delivering goods and services on the government's behalf. Most of those employees are part of what Light calls the "shadow of government" - nonfederal employees working under federal contracts, grants, and mandates to state and local governments. In providing the first estimates of the shadow work force, this book explores the reasons why the official size of the federal government has remained so small while the shadow of government has grown so large.

Reviews

Booknews

Saying that the true size of government should include everyone who provides services but is not an actual government employee, a Senior Fellow in governmental studies at the Brookings Institution calls for politicians to lay down the axes they are sharpening to use on the US government as part of the 2000 presidential campaign. He warns that further cuts could endanger core services and interfere with a far more pressing purpose, and urges instead a more deliberate reshaping of the bureaucracy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

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