Crisis and leviathan

by Robert Higgs · first published 1987

"In Crisis and Leviathan, economist and historian Robert Higgs shows how Big Government emerged from responses to national emergencies that occurred as attitudes about the role of government were changing dramatically. In particular, governmental responses to the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Cold War, and various lesser "crises"(real or imagined) led to a host of new federal programs, activities, and functions that left legacies--including greater acceptance of bigger government--that endured long after each crisis passed. The result was not only a higher baseline for further growth,