Words Worth Noting - June 23, 2021

In 1890 Swedish economist Knut Wicksell “argued that if governments ran deficits then citizens were not being clear information about the costs and benefits of programmes which they were being asked to support as voters… If much of the cost could be transferred to a subsequent generation, citizens would select more government expenditure than if they had to carry the true costs of the benefits they received. This commitment to a balanced budget was not as naïve or rigid as some modern commentators like to suggest.”

Roger Douglas Unfinished Business