The Dilemma of Democracy The Dilemma of Democracy The Political Economics of Over-Government ARTHUR SELDON with a comment by samuel brittan The Institute of Economic Affairs CONTENTS First published in Great Britain in 1998 by The Institute of Economic Affairs 2 Lord North Street Westminster The author 7 sw1p lb London 3 Foreword 9 Acknowledgements 13 Reissued in this new edition in 2002 by The Institute of Economic Affairs Summary 15 in association with Profile Books Ltd List of tables 17 Copyright © The Institute of Economic Affairs 1998 Introduction 21 The moral right of the author has been asserted. Escapable government meets irresistible markets 21 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, 1 Democracy at the crossroads 41 no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, The government of democracy 41 mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written The penalty of over-expansion 47 permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. The disabling constitution of democracy 54 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 2 The debilitating disease of isbn 0 255 36536 5 over-government 61 Over-government – too soon 61 Many IEA publications are translated into languages other than English or are 68 reprinted. Permission to translate or to reprint should be sought from the Over-government – too far General Director at the address above. Over-government – too long 71 Over-government by barnacle 76 Typeset in Stone by MacGuru Over-government by stealth 78 [email protected] Over-government by alibi 79 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Hobbs the Printers Over-government by stampede 80 3 The escapes from over-government 83 Escape by science 83 Escape by affluence 85 THE AUTHOR Escape to personal services 87 Escape to the parallel economy 88 Escape by barter 104 Escape by electronic money 107 Escape by the Internet 111 Arthur Seldon is a founder President of the Institute. He was Escape to the world 118 its Editorial Adviser and then Editorial Director from 1957 to 1988. He has had a life-long association with the liberal scholars at 4 From political democracy to the London School of Economics since 1934: as an undergraduate, individual liberty 120 1934 to 1937, post-graduate until 1940, a Tutor at the University of Democracy at bay 120 London Commerce Degree bureau run by LSE staff, 1946–56, and The new mercantilism 121 as a Staff Examiner at the LSE, 1956–66. He had a special relation- Too late to withdraw 123 ship with his main teachers: Arnold Plant, Lionel Robbins, Ronald The solution 125 Coase and F. A. Hayek, and continues association with younger teachers – Basil Yamey, Sir Alan Peacock and other scholars. Comment 127 He has written widely on the application of classical liberalism Samuel Brittan to industry and welfare in journals and newspapers, in Hobart Pa- pers, and in books. References 135 He has been a persistent critic of the state in economic life. In Notes on trends and statistics on the parallel economy 139 recent years he has been offered honorary doctorates from two pri- vate universities, in Britain and overseas. About the IEA 142 He is the first, and to date only, Hon. Fellow of the Mont Pélerin Society and is Founder Editor of Economic Affairs, the IEA’s journal. 7 FOREWORD Over the last forty years the work of public choice theorists has exposed the extent to which government activities grow under their own momentum. Distinguished economists from Anthony Downs onwards, most notably James Buchanan and Gordon Tul- lock, have shown that people in the ‘public’ sector are not beings set apart. They have much the same motivations as those in the private sector: to assume that they are especially wise, farsighted and act only for the benefit of others, suppressing their own inter- ests, does not lead to good predictions of their behaviour. The con- sequences for the growth of government have been analysed by other economists, such as Sir Alan Peacock and the late Jack Wise- man, who have examined the evidently inexorable upward trend in government expenditures. The results of such researches have changed the climate of opinion and hence the prevailing view of government activity. For example, both the major political parties in Britain now recognise that government can, if unchecked, become unduly intrusive into people’s lives. Governments are beginning to try, if so far not very successfully, to avoid an increase in their share of national income and to hold back a rising tide of regulation. But, if government activity tends to grow beyond what citizens would freely choose, is it not likely that those citizens will use mar- ket mechanisms to escape from the attentions of politicians and 9 the dilemma of democracy foreword civil servants? Governments have powers of coercion but those tional Health Service, he questions the government promise to re- powers are not absolute. The ingenuity of ordinary people, ex- tain it for another 50 years. In any case it is, in Seldon’s view, very pressed through markets, normally allows them to shift away from late for any change in attitude to be effective because people are al- less-desired goods and services to those they prefer. Cannot the ready escaping by many routes from what they perceive to be same be expected if government becomes bloated compared with over-government. what citizens would want? Activities can, for example, be moved These routes are explained in typically original fashion in Part from the official economy to the ‘parallel economy’ or from one 3 of the Paper. Here Seldon shows how people can escape to per- country to another. With the growth of modern communications, sonal services, to the parallel economy, by electronic money, by and especially the internet, the power of exit from over-govern- the Internet or to other countries (without moving because of the ment should be increasing. expansion of free trade and the impact of better communications). It is such intriguing possibilities which are examined by Governments may be powerful but they are not as powerful as Arthur Seldon – for many years the Institute’s Editorial Director – market forces. As he puts it in Part 4: in Hobart Paper 136. As Sir Samuel Brittan writes in his Comment The escapable power of political government meets the on Seldon’s paper, it is a ‘characteristically thoughtful piece of irresistible economic force of the market. (p. 124) work’ with the ‘innovative feature’ of explaining the ways in which people can escape from government. Arthur Seldon will have none of the political arguments to Arthur Seldon sets his view of the future firmly within an his- make marginal changes in the size of government nor to make it torical context, especially in Parts 1–3 of the Paper. False argu- do more efficiently what it does already – for example, by con- ments about the need for government to supply ‘public goods’ tracting out or by partnerships with the private sector. He puts for- have provided the intellectual excuse for governments to take con- ward a far more radical agenda in which the state retreats, cutting trol of activities – such as education, health services, some housing its share of national income from around 40 per cent to nearer 20 provision and some insurance – which the private sector would per cent. If the state does not voluntarily decide to reduce its activ- have provided much better (and indeed in many cases was already ities, it will anyway be rolled back by the will of the people. It providing before the state takeover). For a hundred years or more would be better if government would – the ‘lost century’ – the state has been encroaching in these areas . arrange its retreat with dignity before the escapes and crowding out private initiatives. multiply to deprive it of the authority to influence the rate of In 1998, for the first time, Seldon sees early evidence that the its withdrawal. (p. 124) British government may be reconsidering its attitude towards ‘public’ services, as it seeks advice from the private sector in edu- Seldon would therefore like to see a ‘constructive reaction . cation. But, on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Na- to open markets everywhere’. Government attempts to maintain 10 11 the dilemma of democracy supremacy over the market have provoked the ‘dilemma of democracy’ . It can be resolved only if democratic governments rule ‘... with modest authority that reflects the general will’ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (p. 126): otherwise, it will not be possible to ensure popular obser- vance of that authority. All IEA publications express the views of their authors, not of the Institute (which has no corporate view), its managing trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff. The Institute I have to thank mainly my teachers at the LSE in its heyday in publishes this Paper by one of its founders as an outstanding and the 1930s, who rose above the faith in the state of its founders provocative contribution to discussion about the size and role of Sydney and Beatrice Webb. the state in modern society. In the writing of The Dilemma of Democracy I am indebted to all colin robinson my teachers and friends, and especially three who prompted the Editorial Director, Institute of Economic Affairs book or offered suggestions. Professor of Economics, University of Surrey John Davey, formerly Editorial Director of Blackwell, sug- July 1998 gested, after Capitalism, a study of democracy, of which this is a condensed version.