Go Vernmenta l oVerload in the United s ta Tes

Abstract

Increasing attention has been directed in recent years to the proposition that American government has become "overloaded." i.e., that it is costing too much while achieving too little. In contrast to some accounts which have explained overload in terms of an excess of redistrihutive policies (policies moving wealth from the rich to the poor), the current article argues that government overload is based in large part on an excess of distributive policies, policies which give benefits to one or more groups, withuut much of a redistributive impact. The first part of the article explains and documents the excess, setting the stage for a discussion, in the second part. of overload as a function of dis tribulive policies and politics. The concluding segment of the article then considers, in light of this distributive politics perspective on governmental overload, the merits of various technical and political approaches, including the mid-1970s "tax revolt," which have been proposed for dealing with overload.